tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63118337011815926772018-10-31T02:30:36.837-07:00Liberty Hyde Bailey Outdoor Learning CenterThe community of South Haven, along with North Shore Elementary School, are creating the Liberty Hyde Bailey Outdoor Learning Center. Follow our progress as we seek to discover the wonders of learning in our own backyard!lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-30834470533240970612018-10-21T05:16:00.000-07:002018-10-23T04:41:21.675-07:00Nature Study on the Trail <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7FYI0YqWD_E/W8ZG1QFzw5I/AAAAAAAABeo/TFJUsRkascAqV0gdu2zNB1E2afgiFzHsgCLcBGAs/s1600/Russ%2Bwith%2Bstudents%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7FYI0YqWD_E/W8ZG1QFzw5I/AAAAAAAABeo/TFJUsRkascAqV0gdu2zNB1E2afgiFzHsgCLcBGAs/s320/Russ%2Bwith%2Bstudents%2B2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Learning how to use binoculars</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JI12qx-iZvU/W8ZG_BUqquI/AAAAAAAABes/B3ilitz9NX8WmDNvxkHZEvBgJLNW5FipwCLcBGAs/s1600/Russ%2Bschipper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JI12qx-iZvU/W8ZG_BUqquI/AAAAAAAABes/B3ilitz9NX8WmDNvxkHZEvBgJLNW5FipwCLcBGAs/s320/Russ%2Bschipper.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using a Field Guide</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Nature may be studied with either of two objects:&nbsp; to discover new truth for the purpose of increasing the sum of human knowledge; or to put the pupil in a sympathetic attitude toward nature for the purpose of increasing the joy of living. . . The second object is a nature-study movement, and its purpose is to enable every person to live a richer life, whatever his business or profession may be.&nbsp; Nature-study is a revolt from the teaching of mere science in the elementary grades. . . Nature-study is not science.&nbsp; It is not knowledge.&nbsp; It is not facts.&nbsp; It is spirit.&nbsp; It is concerned with the child's outlook on the world."&nbsp; </i>--Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Nature-Study Idea, 1904</blockquote><br />Thanks to the generosity of the School Foundation and Garden Club, we have a set of very nice student binoculars to use in our Outdoor Learning Center!&nbsp; Thank you to the many people who support these organizations!&nbsp; You enrich our education on a daily basis!&nbsp;<br /><br />This month, Russ Schipper joined us and we went out in small groups to study nature.&nbsp; Russ, as many of you know, is a bird expert who comes every year to all twelve of our classrooms at North Shore Elementary and shares his love of birds with our students.&nbsp; The fourth graders get a generalized bird presentation and the fifth graders get a presentation on owls.&nbsp; After two years at North Shore, most every student has had two classes with Russ and knows a bit more about the birds that he/she may hear or see in their own neighborhood.&nbsp; It's an amazing gift of time and joy that Russ has given to us for the past several years.<br /><br />Although Russ is known for his expertise in birding, he also studies nature and specifically the native plants of our area.&nbsp; This is a new passion for Russ as he has lost some of his hearing due to a rare form of cancer.&nbsp; Birding requires a great deal of listening but plants are a bit easier to study and Russ is now sharing his new passion with us!&nbsp; Russ and I took small groups of students out onto the trails with our new binoculars and no agenda but exploration.&nbsp; We had great fun and every group saw or heard different things that we shared with each other after all the groups had been outside.&nbsp; As we discussed what we had discovered, I recorded them on our dry erase board in the front of the classroom and that board was<i> covered</i> although I know we could have added more. . .&nbsp; It is amazing what there is to discover in such a small area of nature.<br /><br />Russ was a wonderful guide.&nbsp; The first thing most groups heard, was chirping.&nbsp; Russ asked us what was making that chirping sound.&nbsp; Everyone thought it was a bird but in fact, it was a spring peeper (frog)!&nbsp; Russ told us to look around and see what we can see.&nbsp; We compared leaves and hunted down the trees they fell from.&nbsp; "You'll have to use your binoculars to find the tree that <i>this</i> leaf came from," Russ said as they looked for the leaves in the tree.&nbsp; The excitement was palpable when someone yelled, "I found it, I found the tree!" and we all looked with our binoculars way beyond the other tree branches into the sky at the tulip tree branches and leaves.&nbsp; Another very exciting find was in an old log on the side of the trail.&nbsp; There were two rectangular holes and a student asked Russ, "What are these holes from?"&nbsp; Russ asked them to think what <i>could</i> have made them . . . they guessed termites and several other ideas before one student guessed a bird.&nbsp; Russ said, "You're right!&nbsp; But what kind of bird?"&nbsp; Another student guessed a woodpecker and Russ said, "You're right!&nbsp; But what kind of woodpecker?"&nbsp; And at that point he told us that those holes were made by a pileated woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in Michigan.&nbsp; We were all amazed that a pileated woodpecker had once been pecking away at one of the trees in this woods.&nbsp; There were so many common and yet amazing things we saw on our short expeditions out on the trails that I could go on and on. . .<br /><br />Although we learned a great deal, there was something much more than knowledge we received during our short nature studies.&nbsp; We were reminded how to look and listen and even smell (we found wild onions) with a bit more curiosity.&nbsp; &nbsp;In addition, Russ brought his own joy for exploration and shared it with all of us. What a privilege and joy it was for me to spend time with Russ and the students!<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">&nbsp; &nbsp;"<i>Nature-study is not science.&nbsp; It is not knowledge.&nbsp; It is not facts.&nbsp; It is spirit.&nbsp; It is concerned with the child's outlook on the world."</i>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote><br />Russ brought the spirit of nature-study to us and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to see students catching that joy and that spirit!&nbsp; Thanks Russ, from all my students and from me!&nbsp; You have enriched our lives.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nf3n3h5WQaY/W8xrNw9PXWI/AAAAAAAABfY/5lw-epHae0ch4f7epcsSpP7Hc998wtI-QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nf3n3h5WQaY/W8xrNw9PXWI/AAAAAAAABfY/5lw-epHae0ch4f7epcsSpP7Hc998wtI-QCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1326.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S4mXOSyyld8/W8xrjK9y7LI/AAAAAAAABfg/Dqkssj9DvnAZRGrmiga9DNrnM0UkiRpgACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S4mXOSyyld8/W8xrjK9y7LI/AAAAAAAABfg/Dqkssj9DvnAZRGrmiga9DNrnM0UkiRpgACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1332.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QhUUVGM13fU/W8xrY6ZAj4I/AAAAAAAABfc/3jQk_tBuG802Tzw8WHqz2WMJpAgbmlSKgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QhUUVGM13fU/W8xrY6ZAj4I/AAAAAAAABfc/3jQk_tBuG802Tzw8WHqz2WMJpAgbmlSKgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1327.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-78492622595714152682018-09-16T15:15:00.000-07:002018-09-16T15:15:00.414-07:00Fall 2018!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qmvQoNwY3kk/W57I4J5ilXI/AAAAAAAABeQ/gseeeYeHLhEZilvRDYNdHubgzKTNHjxmQCLcBGAs/s1600/class%2Bfall%2B2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qmvQoNwY3kk/W57I4J5ilXI/AAAAAAAABeQ/gseeeYeHLhEZilvRDYNdHubgzKTNHjxmQCLcBGAs/s400/class%2Bfall%2B2018.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Class</td></tr></tbody></table>A new school year has begun!&nbsp; With two weeks under our belts, we are becoming a community of learners.&nbsp; Every day, weather permitting, we run on our lower nature trail loop before starting our formal school day.&nbsp; This past week we took a few minutes to be inspired by the woods and write outside in our new writer's notebooks.&nbsp; We have also been learning about and releasing monarchs on a regular basis.&nbsp; This coming Monday we have four monarch butterflies to release, four still in chrysalis form and two caterpillars.&nbsp; We will learn more about food chains and food webs while studying the milkweed plants in our butterfly garden in the days ahead.&nbsp;<br /><br />We were fortunate to receive a grant from our School Foundation for seven student binoculars and they have arrived!&nbsp; Russ Schipper will be joining us in the days ahead and taking small groups out into the field to learn how to use our new binoculars and how to use field guides to help us identify what we find in our outdoor learning center.&nbsp; I look forward to another great year in forth grade!&nbsp;<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yLWkjsSghf8/W57InBhBeOI/AAAAAAAABeM/syWdYf9G5AwavPdBgQdLHZLoC79uvwZ8ACEwYBhgL/s1600/butterfly%2B2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yLWkjsSghf8/W57InBhBeOI/AAAAAAAABeM/syWdYf9G5AwavPdBgQdLHZLoC79uvwZ8ACEwYBhgL/s400/butterfly%2B2018.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Releasing a monarch</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vo3BcRER4nw/W57IgHdM1rI/AAAAAAAABd8/41tHDmsBh1oRyUIKeDcAWtgdZNRAKh86ACLcBGAs/s1600/fall%2Bwriting%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vo3BcRER4nw/W57IgHdM1rI/AAAAAAAABd8/41tHDmsBh1oRyUIKeDcAWtgdZNRAKh86ACLcBGAs/s400/fall%2Bwriting%2B2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writing outdoors</td></tr></tbody></table></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-43010675574317699162018-08-15T11:20:00.002-07:002018-08-15T18:32:06.639-07:00A New School Year<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-v6cBtxUHI/W3MM5nuZJsI/AAAAAAAABcg/RWpzEPcJCboy-g0lTEcf_-hac9d-ErWrQCLcBGAs/s1600/stella%2Bwith%2Bbug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O-v6cBtxUHI/W3MM5nuZJsI/AAAAAAAABcg/RWpzEPcJCboy-g0lTEcf_-hac9d-ErWrQCLcBGAs/s320/stella%2Bwith%2Bbug.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student with unidentified insect</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>The 2018-2019 school year begins soon!&nbsp; Every August I look forward to meeting my new group of students.&nbsp; It is always exciting and a bit intimidating.&nbsp; Although I've been teaching for over twenty years, each class holds the promise of new adventures and new struggles.&nbsp; Each year I meet a new group of students with their own unique hopes and dreams for fourth grade.&nbsp; I hope I don't let them down and that I can help them along their educational path.&nbsp; Each year we have new curriculum and new learning targets.&nbsp; All of these unknowns leave me a bit anxious during my last days of summer break.&nbsp; That being said, there are also some deep truths about teaching and learning that don't change much over time.&nbsp; Great thinkers have been sharing their knowledge about learning throughout the ages and they continue to inspire us with their truths.&nbsp; Here are a few that come to mind. . .<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Tell me I forget, teach me I remember, involve me and I learn."&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;--Benjamin Franklin</blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Imagination is more important than knowledge."</i>&nbsp; --Albert Einstein&nbsp;</blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent."&nbsp;</i> --Billy Graham</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><br /></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Some things are true in spite of statistics and philosophy and tabulations.&nbsp; Some things we know because we know them</i>."&nbsp; --Liberty Hyde Bailey,&nbsp;<b>Universal Service</b>, 1918</blockquote><i><br /></i><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"There is no way to help a learner to be disciplined, active, and thoroughly engaged unless he perceives a problem to be a problem or whatever is to-be-learned as worth learning, and unless he plays an active role in determining the process of solution. &nbsp;That is the plain, unvarnished truth, and if it sounds like warmed-over "progressive education," it is not any less true for it."&nbsp; &nbsp;</i><span style="text-align: center;">--Neil Postman &amp; Charles Weingartner, <b>Teaching as a Subversive Activity</b>, 1969</span></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Education is the lighting of a fire, not the filling of a pail."</i>&nbsp;--WB Yeats&nbsp;</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">&nbsp; &nbsp;</blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are many more quotes like these and they all point to truths about teaching.&nbsp; None of them talk about curriculum, content or delivery.&nbsp; They all point to something bigger and more universal.&nbsp; Teaching is more than what we learned in graduate school or a trick or a performance or a chromebook.&nbsp; It is more than the latest formulated curriculum or set of goals and objectives.&nbsp; Teaching is an art.&nbsp; And like art, it is always unique and takes many forms and shapes based on the students and the teacher and even the moment.&nbsp; Sometimes I fail miserably.&nbsp; Sometimes I'm amazed by what students are able to learn and discover.&nbsp; But always it is a new adventure.<br /><br />In these last days of August, there are many small projects that occupy me. . . setting up my classroom, gathering supplies, reacquainting myself with curriculum and planning the first few weeks of school.&nbsp; The outdoor learning center needs attention.&nbsp; There are weeds to pull and beds to mulch.&nbsp; In addition, I'm raising about twenty monarchs (I will bring to school) that all need fresh milkweed on a daily basis.&nbsp; And Harold, our class pet, needs to readjust and return to the classroom.&nbsp; There are lots of things on my mind.&nbsp; But mostly, I realize that in a few weeks my new students and I will embark on a new adventure.&nbsp; Hopefully, it will be a year full of discovery, inspiration and joy.<br /><br />To everyone returning to school, I hope that your next year is a great adventure!<br /><br />Peace and Love</div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-73067540442257458782018-06-05T15:19:00.000-07:002018-06-05T15:19:36.340-07:00Birding, Planting and Enjoying the Last Days of School<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gZXkE6zT0Yc/WxcDODC_a2I/AAAAAAAABY8/qmsGa4c5G4EFXdswf_AZcUC4Km7qL979ACLcBGAs/s1600/Russ%2BSchipper%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gZXkE6zT0Yc/WxcDODC_a2I/AAAAAAAABY8/qmsGa4c5G4EFXdswf_AZcUC4Km7qL979ACLcBGAs/s400/Russ%2BSchipper%2B.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russ helping us identify a bird in the yard</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pVv8w32O2Lk/WxcDeS7fbqI/AAAAAAAABZE/f-AaTPfPlXABKoyHXxXJRkQmLBSssWFEgCLcBGAs/s1600/Maria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pVv8w32O2Lk/WxcDeS7fbqI/AAAAAAAABZE/f-AaTPfPlXABKoyHXxXJRkQmLBSssWFEgCLcBGAs/s320/Maria.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planting Milkweed in our Butterfly Garden</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1obIydcb2sI/WxcDh8ycF4I/AAAAAAAABZI/MI5_vyGQOwwlh5uKeTGO2gqtGyYiDYvKwCLcBGAs/s1600/August.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1obIydcb2sI/WxcDh8ycF4I/AAAAAAAABZI/MI5_vyGQOwwlh5uKeTGO2gqtGyYiDYvKwCLcBGAs/s320/August.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planting milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Today we had the wonderful pleasure of going on another birding expedition with Russ Schipper in our backyard!&nbsp; What fun!&nbsp; We saw lots and lots of birds and heard even more!&nbsp; It's amazing how many birds inhabit our forests, wetlands and grasslands at North Shore!&nbsp; In addition, Russ brought with him a flat of Asclepias tuberosa (a form of milkweed) from his lovely wife, Ilse.&nbsp; My students and I planted it around the edges of our new Butterfly Garden.&nbsp; With a bit of rain, sunshine and good luck we will have even more great looking milkweed growing this summer!&nbsp; Earlier this fall we planted lots of native plants thanks to a grant from <i>The Wild Ones</i>.&nbsp; The monarchs will have great nectar sources, along with a variety of milkweed options to lay their eggs.&nbsp; Two of our raised beds now have hearty stands of Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed).&nbsp; Hopefully, we are developing a grand smososbord for butterflies and other nectar feeders.&nbsp; &nbsp;Thank you Russ, Ilse and everyone who has been helping us with our new garden!</div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XMm2cWznp8w/WxcKB1oDZNI/AAAAAAAABZo/pkWhMjkZPrA9h0RdQEZBjBq_nzFZNs11gCLcBGAs/s1600/Maury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XMm2cWznp8w/WxcKB1oDZNI/AAAAAAAABZo/pkWhMjkZPrA9h0RdQEZBjBq_nzFZNs11gCLcBGAs/s320/Maury.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writing on the trial</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pgU-2D2GAwU/WxcLNmfQwPI/AAAAAAAABaM/HQRoIwT4iqMtBMtT91b3KbUZ6rt36y5DgCLcBGAs/s1600/Outdoor%2Bjournaling%2BMahra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pgU-2D2GAwU/WxcLNmfQwPI/AAAAAAAABaM/HQRoIwT4iqMtBMtT91b3KbUZ6rt36y5DgCLcBGAs/s320/Outdoor%2Bjournaling%2BMahra.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Journaling</td></tr></tbody></table><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1o8LIYWjaEI/WxcJxLyJnjI/AAAAAAAABZg/0sK3nKIBxnsPb9o-RGGIhThEERF7WjgSQCLcBGAs/s1600/recess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1o8LIYWjaEI/WxcJxLyJnjI/AAAAAAAABZg/0sK3nKIBxnsPb9o-RGGIhThEERF7WjgSQCLcBGAs/s400/recess.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recess with friends!</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-82057924644664992972018-04-28T10:04:00.003-07:002018-04-28T10:04:47.854-07:00Spring Education <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cT0w1yi9tz4/WuSdJJ4ckwI/AAAAAAAABWY/utuXCZnFwr48A0nSdcom0F5DAwLIa9E4wCLcBGAs/s1600/bulb%2Bgarden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cT0w1yi9tz4/WuSdJJ4ckwI/AAAAAAAABWY/utuXCZnFwr48A0nSdcom0F5DAwLIa9E4wCLcBGAs/s320/bulb%2Bgarden.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Study in our bulb garden</td></tr></tbody></table><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qj_HOEUZa4k/WuSdUTm2UTI/AAAAAAAABWc/xCfyg0G2ir4aL5pzkZ5cVFidHUBaPQnCACLcBGAs/s1600/bulb%2Bgarden%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qj_HOEUZa4k/WuSdUTm2UTI/AAAAAAAABWc/xCfyg0G2ir4aL5pzkZ5cVFidHUBaPQnCACLcBGAs/s320/bulb%2Bgarden%2B1.jpg" width="240" /></a><i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i></i><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Science but increases the mystery of the unknown and enlarges the boundaries of the spiritual vision.&nbsp; To feel that one is a useful and co-operating part in nature is to give one kinship, and to open the mind to the great resources and the high enthusiasms.&nbsp; Here arise the fundamental common relations.&nbsp; Here arise also the great emotions and conceptions of sublimity and grandeur, of majesty and awe, the uplift of vast desires,--when one contemplates the earth and the universe and desires to take them into the soul and to express oneself in their terms; and here also the responsible practices of life take root."&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;</blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: center;">--Liberty Hyde Bailey, <u>The Holy Earth</u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sZmCgqT2tU4/WuSdgtlqUpI/AAAAAAAABWk/LsKVAJrUrAw6CQL_28yVEgdUT-F_bjMjACLcBGAs/s1600/running%2Bon%2Bthe%2Btrail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sZmCgqT2tU4/WuSdgtlqUpI/AAAAAAAABWk/LsKVAJrUrAw6CQL_28yVEgdUT-F_bjMjACLcBGAs/s320/running%2Bon%2Bthe%2Btrail.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running on the trail</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-js1xlhizGdQ/WuSdpMASRNI/AAAAAAAABWs/Sl7kDsVP5Lkon76HuHC3lLNMSC2UKlQQACEwYBhgL/s1600/Outdoor%2Bjournaling%2BMahra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-js1xlhizGdQ/WuSdpMASRNI/AAAAAAAABWs/Sl7kDsVP5Lkon76HuHC3lLNMSC2UKlQQACEwYBhgL/s320/Outdoor%2Bjournaling%2BMahra.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writing in Writer's Notebook</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It's spring and we are back to running every morning on the trail!&nbsp; Our bulb garden is up!&nbsp; The spring peepers and the red-winged blackbirds are singing!&nbsp; The bird feeders are emptying at an incredible pace.&nbsp; There are signs of life everywhere!&nbsp; My class and I are turning our minds toward the season of spring and looking toward that amazing summer break that promises barefeet in the warm sand and lazy bike rides down the Kal-Haven trail.&nbsp; It makes it a bit hard to stay inside.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>This past week, we celebrated Earth Day.&nbsp; We picked up garbage on our campus and wandered over to the middle school to clean up their campus as well.&nbsp; We learned how to make recycled paper (paper we will use for a special writing project in May).&nbsp; We picked daffodils in the "hidden garden" (a huge patch in the woods) and we studied our own bulb garden.&nbsp; I shared some of my favorite Earth inspired books (<b style="font-style: italic;">Dear Children of the Earth, The Other Way to Listen, Just a Dream,</b>&nbsp;and<b style="font-style: italic;"> Whisper from the Woods</b>).&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLS7qHtJuyw/WuShqacBHmI/AAAAAAAABXI/-bpX_VyTTw0kzjJmLe9YI9kIUoBq9wLqACLcBGAs/s1600/mother%2Bto%2Bmother%2Bschimmel%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="900" height="218" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLS7qHtJuyw/WuShqacBHmI/AAAAAAAABXI/-bpX_VyTTw0kzjJmLe9YI9kIUoBq9wLqACLcBGAs/s400/mother%2Bto%2Bmother%2Bschimmel%2Bimage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mother to Mother</i> image found in <b>Dear Children of the Earth</b><br />Written and Illustrated by Schim Schimmel</td></tr></tbody></table>The above picture is from one of my favorite pages in <i>Dear Children of the Earth.&nbsp;</i>&nbsp;The book is written as a letter from Mother Earth to us.&nbsp; On this page, Mother Earth says,<div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp;" . . . I need your help.&nbsp; And the animals need your help, too.&nbsp; "But Mother Earth," you ask, "how can I help you and all my sister and brother animals when you are so big, and I am so small?"&nbsp;&nbsp;</i><i>Well, my children, let me tell you something, I am not so big.&nbsp; As a matter of fact, I am quite small.&nbsp; When you go outside at night and look up at all the millions and millions of stars, you will see how small I really am.&nbsp; Compared to the night sky, I am no bigger than you!"</i></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">What a powerful image.&nbsp; The story continues by asking the children what they think is the most important thing they can do to help her (at this point students have all kinds of ideas).&nbsp; The response is simple . . .</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><i>"I need you to love me.&nbsp; That's all.&nbsp; Just love me as much as I love you.&nbsp; Because when you love me, you will care for me.&nbsp; And when you care for me, you will protect me.&nbsp; And when you care for me and protect me, you will save your Home, and the homes of your sister and brother animals."</i></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;My students wrote letters back to Mother Earth after this inspiring and beautiful book.&nbsp; &nbsp;They did a wonderful job and the letters were filled with love.&nbsp; I was so pleased.</div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VwKF6P1tU4/WuSl3c1-LZI/AAAAAAAABX0/XEQO0t62f-IHjEaBHRn0TRSoklOIDEdeACLcBGAs/s1600/Picture1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1180" height="262" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VwKF6P1tU4/WuSl3c1-LZI/AAAAAAAABX0/XEQO0t62f-IHjEaBHRn0TRSoklOIDEdeACLcBGAs/s400/Picture1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover and letter written to Mother Earth</td></tr></tbody></table><div><i><br /></i></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"...when one contemplates the earth and the universe and desires to take them into the soul and to express oneself in their terms . . . the responsible practices of life take root."</i></blockquote>I am reminded that education is more than facts, it's an emotional relationship.&nbsp; Happy spring everyone!<br /><div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div></div></div></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-45785260258868845602018-03-30T17:15:00.001-07:002018-04-13T04:33:50.439-07:00Spring and the Irony of Education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOX1I77M8I4/Wr7LSR8PvcI/AAAAAAAABVA/GtnZKqeCcrkSxMuH67ytrlB_lSw60lMCACLcBGAs/s1600/bear%2Bspring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOX1I77M8I4/Wr7LSR8PvcI/AAAAAAAABVA/GtnZKqeCcrkSxMuH67ytrlB_lSw60lMCACLcBGAs/s320/bear%2Bspring.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Spring</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">By Mary Oliver</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Somewhere</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;a black bear&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; has just risen from sleep</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;and is staring</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>down the mountain.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; All night</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in the brisk and shallow restlessness</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;of early spring</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I think of her,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;her four black fists</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ficking the gravel,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;her tongue</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>like a red fire</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;touching the grass,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the cold water.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;There is only one question:</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>how to love this world.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I think of her</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; rising</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; like a black and leafy ledge</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>to sharpen her claws against</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;the silence</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; of the trees.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Whatever else</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>my life is</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; with its poems</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and its music</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and its glass cities,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>it is also this dazzling darkness</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;coming</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; down the mountain,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; breathing and tasting;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>all day I think of her---</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;her white teeth,&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; her wordlessness,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;her perfect love.&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There is a great irony in education these days . . . maybe its always been this way and I've just started noticing it more . . . . maybe it's my years of listening to children or my own personal love of learning. I'm finding that the process of&nbsp; learning is less and less respected and harder and harder to come by lately as we focus more and more on the product . . . I don't know. . . my imagination is falling short in the face of this national educational crisis.&nbsp; We are not getting smarter and there is something we are losing . . .&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It has become really easy and slick to test students on details and facts.&nbsp; We can give an online test and have it scored in minutes and know the percentage of students who missed question number 8 and discuss why they missed it and how we can better teach that answer next year . . . but we often don't bother to question the question or what we are actually testing.&nbsp; It is a genuinely a good question?&nbsp; And don't we realize that every computer generated question, has a computer generated answer and that those questions and answers can be done by computers?&nbsp; What's the point?&nbsp; &nbsp;Isn't it all obsolete with A.I. (Artificial&nbsp; Intelligence)?&nbsp; Why does anyone in this day and age think facts are more important than thinking?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Where is the poetry?&nbsp; Where is the music?&nbsp; Why aren't we learning to love the quest for knowledge over facts?&nbsp; When will we embrace the wisdom of Albert Einstein, when he said, I<i>magination is more important than knowledge</i>?&nbsp; Doesn't he know something about learning?&nbsp; When will professionals, that step everyday into a classroom, get heard when we say, <i>enough is enough</i><b> </b>with all these tests?!&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>There is only one question:</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; How to love this world.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">I often turn to Mary Oliver for wisdom.&nbsp; It's not the kind that is generated by Siri or some other AI (I use AI to figure out how to make my way to some destination or to give me some random fact).&nbsp; AI is very handy, but Mary Oliver reminds us that spring is here and there are bears that wake up and remind us who they are . . .</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">. . . this&nbsp;</i><i style="text-align: left;">dazzling darkness&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">coming&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">down the mountain,&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">breathing and tasting;&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">all day I think of her--</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">her white teeth,&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">her wordlessness,&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;">her perfect love.&nbsp;</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">I don't know how to express how much we need to listen to the poets and artists of our time.&nbsp; I don't know how to express that we need to encourage imagination in our students in a world that seems so lacking in vision.&nbsp; And maybe even more, we need to listen to the bear that wakes in spring and the birds that build their nests and the snails and the plants and the songs that persist in our hearts.&nbsp; <i>There is only one question:&nbsp; How to love this world.</i>&nbsp; This is where learning and exploring begins and ends. . . all the rest is just. . .all the rest.&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-53317258770356451072018-02-24T11:10:00.001-08:002018-04-13T04:35:41.058-07:00The Great Backyard Bird Count With Russ Schipper!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lwxK94NpbY8/WpGoPLMIk4I/AAAAAAAABT4/Fkq_aDr-W3IGwFnMLIlRPsqX4uuO1fTWgCLcBGAs/s1600/Backyard%2Bbirding%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lwxK94NpbY8/WpGoPLMIk4I/AAAAAAAABT4/Fkq_aDr-W3IGwFnMLIlRPsqX4uuO1fTWgCLcBGAs/s400/Backyard%2Bbirding%2B2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pointing out the Rock Pigeon on the roof</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-49TjkI25q4k/WpGoSj2JCzI/AAAAAAAABT8/zJQT0i_nzBQjTY61ob0PY9J_JJRjW6W-ACLcBGAs/s1600/Backyard%2Bbirding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-49TjkI25q4k/WpGoSj2JCzI/AAAAAAAABT8/zJQT0i_nzBQjTY61ob0PY9J_JJRjW6W-ACLcBGAs/s400/Backyard%2Bbirding.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russ answering questions in the field</td></tr></tbody></table>On Monday, February 19th, my class had the good fortune of having Russ Schipper take us birding for the <b>Great Backyard Bird Count</b>, through Cornell University.&nbsp; We walked, looked and listened on the school grounds for signs of birds.&nbsp; It's pretty amazing the number of birds you can hear when you are quiet and listening for them!&nbsp; Russ is an avid birder and educator of all things bird related.&nbsp; He is a leader in the Kalamazoo Audubon Society, no doubt sharing his knowledge and love of birds with its members as well as the young students he teaches.&nbsp; This has become an annual tradition with Russ and I (every year for the past 6 years) and it is an honor be a part of it.&nbsp; Each year, it is a new adventure.&nbsp; This year was very wet (we had just had a huge snow melt) and so we kept to paved surfaces.&nbsp; The forecast called for rain but thankfully the rain held off.&nbsp; We spotted and recorded lots of birds in our fifty minutes outside.&nbsp; We sent our results into the Cornell site after we reviewed our findings in the classroom.&nbsp; (If you go to: http://gbbc.birdcount.org/&nbsp; you can see our findings along with millions of others.)<br /><br /><br />Russ comes to North Shore Elementary every fall and gives a presentation to each classroom on birds (4th graders) and owls (5th graders).&nbsp; He is a gift to our school and to the many other schools that he visits.&nbsp; He has actually visited hundreds of classrooms and never tires of a student or a question.&nbsp; Russ has spread this love of birds to thousands of people both young and old.<br /><br />All of Russ' work educating us on birds is really rather incredible, but he shares more than his bird knowledge with us-- he shares a model of good living.&nbsp; We have a lot of programs trying to <i>tell</i> students how live . . . how to be kind or how to do the right thing or how to treat people right. . . Here's what I think. . . It's people like Russ that <i>show</i> us how to live.&nbsp; And it is people like Russ that change the world for the better. . . one child, one bird, one teacher at a time.&nbsp; &nbsp;Russ exemplifies&nbsp; the notion that no question is too small, no child is unimportant and that everyone has a place and can learn.&nbsp; And he exemplifies the art of generosity, both with time and birdseed (I have a huge stash of sunflower seeds from him for our schoolyard birdfeeders).&nbsp; &nbsp;Many years ago a wonderful mentor of mine (Marianne Hueston) told me, "You teach who you are."&nbsp; As a seasoned (some might even say old) teacher, I have learned over and over again that this is true and very wise.&nbsp; If we genuinely want to teach children curiosity, kindness and generosity we need to model those traits.&nbsp; Teaching doesn't happen from talking (or testing) it happens from being.&nbsp; A huge thank you to Russ for his many teaching gifts!&nbsp; I'm looking forward to next year!lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-59504236744026481992017-11-28T17:12:00.000-08:002017-11-28T17:14:40.976-08:00Wisdom<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-op35VGYTtFA/WhyEZa9tjfI/AAAAAAAABTU/CW5WIr2YSGgQZ-nm6ugnSZ0T4854RYaCgCLcBGAs/s1600/Parents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-op35VGYTtFA/WhyEZa9tjfI/AAAAAAAABTU/CW5WIr2YSGgQZ-nm6ugnSZ0T4854RYaCgCLcBGAs/s400/Parents.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Parents with Lena</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">"There are many great deeds done in the small struggles of life."&nbsp; --Victor Hugo</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The above photo is of my parents; a couple of heros of mine.&nbsp; They have both spent their lives in service to others and they continue to model that lifestyle.&nbsp; My parents continue to teach who they are by their actions and the way they live every day of their lives.&nbsp; I will share just one story that captures a bit of who my mom is. . . My mom lives with Parkinson's disease.&nbsp; It has made it hard to communicate and perform some of the basic tasks in daily living.&nbsp; My dad is her constant companion, helper and caregiver.&nbsp; He is pretty amazing and I could write a great deal on his accomplishments, but that is not the story for today. . . My story for today is about a recent hospital visit I took to see my mom and a bit about her story.&nbsp; My mom was in the hospital suffering from pneumonia.&nbsp; She has weak lungs and the Parkinson's disease makes this complicated and dangerous.&nbsp; &nbsp;At any rate, my mom was in the hospital and very frail.&nbsp; The nurse was trying to bring her into conversation.&nbsp; My brother and I started telling stories about her years as a junior high school home economics teacher.&nbsp; She taught in an inner-city school in an American Indian community on the southside of Minneapolis.&nbsp; There was a great deal of poverty, alcohol abuse and broken families in that community. . . issues often associated with a culture that has been displaced and so often disrespected in our wider society.&nbsp; On that day in her hospital room, we recounted a story about one of her students that spent most of the afternoon in her classroom.&nbsp; He was technically not assigned to <i>all</i> her afternoon classes but he was such a distraction and discipline issue, spending the afternoon in home economics seemed the least harmful.&nbsp; <i>He was a handful.&nbsp;</i> One day my mom was out sick and a substitute teacher was in her room.&nbsp; The notes very specifically said that this student was not allowed in the hallways without supervision.&nbsp; The substitute however, allowed him a bathroom break thinking no great harm could possibly happen.&nbsp; Within a few minutes, he had started a fire in the bathroom and there was smoke everywhere.&nbsp; The entire school had to be evacuated.&nbsp; The principal later told my mom to give him a heads-up next time she would be gone, so that he could made sure that student also took the day off.&nbsp; The nurse in the room said, "Boy, I bet you were glad to retire!"&nbsp; My mom, who struggled to get out every word, said, "I felt privileged to be a part of his life."&nbsp; And then she said, "I was talking to a student once and he said (with junior high angst) "Why should I listen to you?!""&nbsp; My mom responded, "Because I care about you."&nbsp; The student looked at her and said, "No one has ever said that to me before."&nbsp; My mom's class became a refuge for those who needed a safe place and genuinely needed someone who cared about them.&nbsp; They were lucky to have her as a teacher and no doubt they were better people because of her.&nbsp; And my mom really was privileged to be a part of their lives.<br /><br />Today, my mom struggles with many of the things most of us take for granted.&nbsp; She has a hard time telling her elbow to bend so that she can bring the spoon to her mouth to eat.&nbsp; She has a hard time putting thoughts into words and speaking what is on her mind.&nbsp; She struggles with balance and all sorts of daily activities we take for granted.&nbsp; But here is what I notice now more than ever . . . she is strong.&nbsp; She struggles through each day and still smiles when she sees someone she knows.&nbsp; She continues to care about other people, when it may seem that her own struggle is more than enough to care about.&nbsp; She continues to teach us how to live and she continues to be a hero to those of us who know her.&nbsp; I know that I speak for my whole family when I say, we are lucky to have her in our lives.&nbsp; She and my dad have taught us over and over again that caring for others is a way of life and a privilege.&nbsp; This is an amazing gift and lesson that my brothers and I were fortunate enough to receive.&nbsp; Teaching is so much more than what we say.&nbsp; Teaching is about how we live our lives.&nbsp; Thanks Mom and Dad!&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-61546225057719304702017-10-06T14:58:00.000-07:002017-10-09T04:16:26.375-07:00Outdoor Learning and Common Core Curriculum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9qa49fUh2o/T6Waj3Jc0gI/AAAAAAAAAJM/duTmPn9_FmIEDw0yeimUAosYjJBjrSiVACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h9qa49fUh2o/T6Waj3Jc0gI/AAAAAAAAAJM/duTmPn9_FmIEDw0yeimUAosYjJBjrSiVACPcBGAYYCw/s320/011.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><i><br /></i><i>A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. &nbsp;It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. &nbsp;If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of strength.&nbsp;</i><br />--Rachel Carlson, The Sense of Wonder<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Every morning (weather permitting) I take my students on a short run around the lower loop trail. &nbsp;We are outside for maybe five minutes. . . just enough time to get our blood flowing and prepare for the day. &nbsp;It's also just enough time for students to catch up with each other and with me. &nbsp;I hear about their latest soccer games, a favorite book or the reason homework isn't quite done. &nbsp;Sometimes we are graced by a large flock of geese that like to graze on the soccer fields nearby and then take flight over our heads. &nbsp;Sometimes the moon is an amazing crescent and we watch it wax or wane over the next few days. &nbsp;Sometimes we find strange fungus growing out of the ground after a rain that seems to have appeared overnight out of nowhere. &nbsp;Sometimes we see a monarch and wonder if it was one we released a few days earlier.&nbsp; Those moments outside in the morning often offer something to amaze us and our days are brighter for it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bi03PPAxPuk/Wdfl6VcwLWI/AAAAAAAABRk/xjJyf3TSJ0YMzPMFRbvzrJurRTccE_e3wCLcBGAs/s1600/butterfly%2Bgarden%2Bplanted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="640" height="170" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bi03PPAxPuk/Wdfl6VcwLWI/AAAAAAAABRk/xjJyf3TSJ0YMzPMFRbvzrJurRTccE_e3wCLcBGAs/s400/butterfly%2Bgarden%2Bplanted.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />Earlier this year, my students helped plant our butterfly garden. &nbsp;They learned about parts of the plant and what plants need to survive. &nbsp;They learned a bit about producers and their place in ecosystems. &nbsp;We have had hot and dry weather since our plantings so during recess, volunteers have been helping me care for the plants. &nbsp;We carry gallon jugs of water out to them and check on their progress. &nbsp;As we walk, again, we have time to talk and catch up on what is going on in their lives. &nbsp;When we get to the garden, they examine the plants that they planted and others that they did not plant. &nbsp;I hear them call to each other, "Make sure we get them all, don't leave anyone out!" &nbsp;We empty our jugs and students run to catch the last few minutes of recess. &nbsp;Maybe the words, "don't leave anyone out" are still ringing in their ears (I hope so). <br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tBCDjCATa_I/WdIfhvZciFI/AAAAAAAABRI/InycT3K9c1EEc_lNIwMf5qz_hQGrp5pNACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tBCDjCATa_I/WdIfhvZciFI/AAAAAAAABRI/InycT3K9c1EEc_lNIwMf5qz_hQGrp5pNACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2724.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TK_IXHTVgtI/Wdfx9EH0i6I/AAAAAAAABR0/jSvtMFO7qgkNIJXro5c4l5kXXqXkwgZswCLcBGAs/s1600/42B57B1E-F586-45EA-8F91-F42B0658E29C.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TK_IXHTVgtI/Wdfx9EH0i6I/AAAAAAAABR0/jSvtMFO7qgkNIJXro5c4l5kXXqXkwgZswCLcBGAs/s320/42B57B1E-F586-45EA-8F91-F42B0658E29C.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />In past posts, I have examined a variety of ways to teach in our outdoor learning center.&nbsp; The most obvious connections are in math and science, but we also go outside to inspire our poetry writing.&nbsp; These lessons connect with our Common Core Curriculum.&nbsp; If I am teaching perimeter and area, we will go out and measure our raised beds.&nbsp; The bonus is, we will also measure the height of the plants and estimate the total number of plants in the garden.&nbsp; Maybe students will even learn the name of a plant or two.&nbsp; These are extra teaching points that I can slide in (also most likely in the Common Core Standards).&nbsp; It's not hard to connect our curriculum to the outdoors.<br /><br />There is a lot of debate over Common Core Curriculum.&nbsp; For those of you who are not in education, Common Core Curriculum has the goal of making educational standards that are nationwide.&nbsp; They are the lists of things that we should be teaching at each grade level.&nbsp; The concept is that students are roughly getting the same knowledge or information at each level no matter where they live in the country.&nbsp; That's not a bad concept.&nbsp; In our culture, families are pretty mobile and it would be great to know that you could move anywhere in the United States and the educational expectations are about the same.&nbsp; I don't have a problem with this concept and the ongoing development of a Common Core Curriculum.&nbsp; It isn't the evil (in my mind) some make it out to be in our new centralized and politicized educational system.&nbsp; We have always had standards and benchmarks, now they are a bit more specific and we are encouraged to make note of them in our lesson plans (something tedious but not too hard with computerized lesson plans).&nbsp; It's not the Common Core Standards that weigh us down. . . it's how we have decided we use them that have made them a burden.&nbsp; The standards are a tool and a guide; they are not <i>how</i> we teach and they aren't even <i>what</i> we teach.&nbsp; We teach children.&nbsp; We teach children.&nbsp; I say this twice because it bears repeating.&nbsp; The Common Core is a framework for professional teachers to use as a guide in their classroom.&nbsp; It's nothing more than that.<br /><br />It is when we use standardized tests to measure achievements of the Common Core Curriculum and then we set point goals for students that we have taken a step down a rabbit hole that leads us off course.&nbsp; And that is when the tools of Common Core become a burden that seems to take over our classrooms and our lives.&nbsp; We now require our students to take online, high stakes tests throughout the year.&nbsp; In the fall, the tests (in math and reading) determine where a student is academically and an algorithm will project where that student should be by the end of the year.&nbsp; Unfortunately, measuring and projecting growth for children is a bit difficult and the algorithms are flawed.&nbsp; I have lots of examples of this, but I will share just one.&nbsp; A couple of years ago, I had a really good math student.&nbsp; His fall scores were high and his expectations (via the computerized algorithm) were high.&nbsp; At the end of the school year, this student scored in the 99th percentile in math (in the country)!&nbsp; Amazing.&nbsp; You can't score higher than 99 percent, however, he was somehow one point away from his goal.&nbsp; I received an email from his mom later that night.&nbsp; She said that he had cried himself to sleep because he hadn't made his math goal.&nbsp; I called her and reassured her that her son was amazing and could not have scored better.&nbsp; When the student came to class the next day, I explained to him that he was well within the margin of error (something that isn't taken into consideration by our administration, although is proper statistical analysis) and he could not have done better.&nbsp; His score caused unnecessary grief and his score was actually amazingly good.&nbsp; There are similar issues with students who have low test scores, as their projected growth requires more than the average point gain.&nbsp; This is because the algorithm expects teachers to "close the gap" with our low students.&nbsp; Students who may have taken five years to make perhaps three years growth are expected to make more than a year's growth to help "close the gap" (this projection is often naive and without logical basis).&nbsp; In addition to unrealistic goals, there are emotional issues, test taking fears, and wasted educational time (we spend hours and hours every year testing).&nbsp; However, when we see the bar graphs as full-color, glossy, and well formatted printouts, they look so good that we are often lulled into thinking they must be right.&nbsp; They are all wrong. &nbsp; &nbsp;To return to Carson again, they are<i>&nbsp;"the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of strength."&nbsp; </i><i>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</i><i>&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bEwG83mLlVw/WdfzKnNenRI/AAAAAAAABSA/pbQrXFXLakgZSyhkG_t_YG09k0mC7SHIgCLcBGAs/s1600/nick%2Bwith%2Bbutterfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bEwG83mLlVw/WdfzKnNenRI/AAAAAAAABSA/pbQrXFXLakgZSyhkG_t_YG09k0mC7SHIgCLcBGAs/s320/nick%2Bwith%2Bbutterfly.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />The other morning when we were out on our daily run, we noticed a loud flock of geese in the yard.&nbsp; They were landing in groups of six and eight and they were squawking and carrying on as if there was some sort of family disagreement going on.&nbsp; Later that morning, while I was in the midst of teaching reading (I can't recall the lesson) that flock of geese starting walking toward our classroom windows.&nbsp; We stopped and watched. . . "What are they eating? . . . How can you tell the females from the males?"&nbsp; We watched carefully (my lesson not nearly exciting enough to compete) and we decided they were eating the grass, not really digging up insects.&nbsp; I got on my phone and asked Siri how to tell the difference between male and female Canada geese.&nbsp; Apparently, the males are slightly larger but the color patterns are the same.&nbsp; Moments later, the flock took flight and we resumed our lessons.&nbsp; I don't remember the language arts lesson, but I remember what I learned about geese.&nbsp; I'm guessing it was about the same for my students.&nbsp; Moments like that are joyful and full of wonder and excitement.&nbsp; That is what I want to encourage and that is what I needed to teach in those few moments.&nbsp; Isn't that what we want for our children. . .?<br /><br /><i>If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life. . .</i><br /><i><br /></i>My hope for the future of education, is that we turn away from high stakes testing so we can fully focus on the amazing children that enter our classroom.&nbsp; Let's remember that curriculum is just a list of things to teach and that we are here to inspire our students and help them to hold onto the wonder that is childhood.&nbsp; And perhaps it's the little moments that make the day joyful . . a flock of geese, a walk to the garden or a view of the moon and those little moments are what can inspire us to learn and grow.&nbsp; Happy teaching and learning!<br /><br /><br /><br />lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-67509665592248060152017-09-12T13:56:00.000-07:002017-09-12T13:56:31.449-07:00Planting a Butterfly Garden<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BM80fHk3IqI/WbhD24ieMiI/AAAAAAAABQI/1EmDhleEi0Y0KwMu3GN0UrtlFe8RqsG6wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2727%2B%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BM80fHk3IqI/WbhD24ieMiI/AAAAAAAABQI/1EmDhleEi0Y0KwMu3GN0UrtlFe8RqsG6wCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_2727%2B%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My class in front of our new Butterfly Garden</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ALXbi7ggkME/WbhCgCqAidI/AAAAAAAABPw/JoWLm47_9Zg-134UlrBJc00saZTbkUXHwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ALXbi7ggkME/WbhCgCqAidI/AAAAAAAABPw/JoWLm47_9Zg-134UlrBJc00saZTbkUXHwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2697.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ilse Gebhard, Monarch and Plant Expert</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cto7k4zBEr0/WbhCvMw9ZQI/AAAAAAAABP0/TmBYiRPqqVQiX9nWCTC4t-ndt2WzcHLNQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cto7k4zBEr0/WbhCvMw9ZQI/AAAAAAAABP0/TmBYiRPqqVQiX9nWCTC4t-ndt2WzcHLNQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2725.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student Planting</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pUwVP3C0Bxg/WbhCzVjYqYI/AAAAAAAABP4/iMPewMrxsgYqqhcnf7SE_3plOA8urDV9QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pUwVP3C0Bxg/WbhCzVjYqYI/AAAAAAAABP4/iMPewMrxsgYqqhcnf7SE_3plOA8urDV9QCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2719.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student watering</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_IIpvVf_kw0/WbhC2vJRjnI/AAAAAAAABP8/h2NPQcqOVaM6aMt0neJW8wsKFrwWVLc4wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_IIpvVf_kw0/WbhC2vJRjnI/AAAAAAAABP8/h2NPQcqOVaM6aMt0neJW8wsKFrwWVLc4wCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2723.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helping hands</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6U8PjY3z8ao/WbhC7CPkEoI/AAAAAAAABQA/pX2g9yBdqyk1IJYN9J5z14g7LOPYeaUJwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6U8PjY3z8ao/WbhC7CPkEoI/AAAAAAAABQA/pX2g9yBdqyk1IJYN9J5z14g7LOPYeaUJwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2712.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the butterflies that hatched in our classroom</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Today, my students had the wonderful opportunity of planting indigenous nectar plants into our new Butterfly Garden! &nbsp;What fun! &nbsp;Ilse Gebhard (see above) donated several flats of plants for this project. &nbsp;Ilse is famous for her care of monarchs and for encouraging Monarch WayStations around the nation. &nbsp;She has helped me throughout the years with her generous donations of caterpillars to my classroom. &nbsp;I am now able to find monarch eggs and raise butterflies myself and so now Ilse is helping me make our school grounds pollinator friendly. &nbsp;We are now an official&nbsp;<b>Monarch WayStation</b>&nbsp;that will continue to grow as we continue to plant and sow seeds. &nbsp;I still have funds from the <i>WildOnes</i> grant I received last year so we will add additional plants before the snow flies. &nbsp;Our hope is to see a blossoming garden in the years to come. &nbsp;And maybe even more importantly, we are sowing seeds of love in our students for the environment and for the common butterflies and plants that make our world a better place to live. &nbsp;Thank you Ilse for taking care of the monarchs and for teaching people like me and my students. &nbsp;You make the world a more beautiful place, one butterfly and one student at a time. lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-40341773141638980212017-08-03T11:43:00.000-07:002017-08-03T17:00:57.808-07:00Adventures in Ithaca; Following the Liberty Hyde Bailey Trail<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DIjp70k5FLw/WYC_2oR3B5I/AAAAAAAABLk/CgY9-QBD3-Y8Q9vCqA0FDoNGj9vts3hmgCLcBGAs/s1600/John%2Bat%2BBailiwick.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DIjp70k5FLw/WYC_2oR3B5I/AAAAAAAABLk/CgY9-QBD3-Y8Q9vCqA0FDoNGj9vts3hmgCLcBGAs/s320/John%2Bat%2BBailiwick.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John at Bailiwick (Bailey's Summer farm home)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my son John in Ithaca, New York. &nbsp;He is doing research on Liberty Hyde Bailey while working on his dissertation at a small cabin on one of the many finger lakes near Cornell University. &nbsp;Cornell is where Liberty Hyde Bailey founded the New York State College of Agriculture and served as its Dean for many years. &nbsp;He was a well loved professor, researcher and writer. &nbsp; He wrote both scientific books and books with a more philosophical &nbsp;and educational bend. &nbsp;Ithaca is steeped in the life and work of Liberty Hyde Bailey and John was a wonderful tour guide. &nbsp;John has visited Ithaca several times and has been walking in the path of Bailey for several years now, making friends and discovering details of Bailey's life and work that seemed destined for him to find and to share with others. &nbsp;The following photos highlight a few of the places John and I explored on my two day adventure. <br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sgwZH8CUHw4/WYDJbGMY_UI/AAAAAAAABLw/U8hnM6rFTA8X7sbVjhIrxz-z77lWBL2bgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sgwZH8CUHw4/WYDJbGMY_UI/AAAAAAAABLw/U8hnM6rFTA8X7sbVjhIrxz-z77lWBL2bgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2382.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elevator to the Hortorium</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HYQOQr3muFE/WYDJod5NFRI/AAAAAAAABL4/kqeHo5pHyLMbiMURuEMC3zHBf8vy5kbKACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2383.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HYQOQr3muFE/WYDJod5NFRI/AAAAAAAABL4/kqeHo5pHyLMbiMURuEMC3zHBf8vy5kbKACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_2383.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many thousands of plant samples</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Our first stop was The Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. &nbsp;It was here we met Peter Fraissinet, assistant curator. &nbsp;Peter showed us around the many vaults with layers and layers of plant samples, all filed and sorted and consisting of over 869,000 specimens. &nbsp;The Hortorium houses the largest palm collection in North America, consisting of 30,000 specimens. &nbsp;When Bailey started his hortorium collection they were housed in a building next to his family home (Sage Place). &nbsp;Now the collection is in a beautiful, well lit library at Cornell with Peter and staff who continue to care for and add to this amazing collection. &nbsp;Peter was both generous and helpful. &nbsp;It's wonderful to know that the hundreds of thousands of plants are in good hands!<br /><div><i></i><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><i></i><br /><i></i><i></i><i></i> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><i></i><br /><i></i> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c4IHOCk0FdA/WYDM_k4aWGI/AAAAAAAABMA/NM8qPRZESMQSoCbJ_-V2odxOALZX2q-dQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c4IHOCk0FdA/WYDM_k4aWGI/AAAAAAAABMA/NM8qPRZESMQSoCbJ_-V2odxOALZX2q-dQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2396.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conservatory</td></tr></tbody></table><i></i><br /><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5BwS_w-UIJw/WYDNXIBGDGI/AAAAAAAABME/gw-7NtLew-wMOGCQ0rlOz0qWGwupZRKVACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5BwS_w-UIJw/WYDNXIBGDGI/AAAAAAAABME/gw-7NtLew-wMOGCQ0rlOz0qWGwupZRKVACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2397.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conservatory&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><i></i><br /><i></i><i></i><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OAP_sJ3bX_o/WYNo8u0SkXI/AAAAAAAABPE/rI4EHgRZuiwwH17LoD6gmeUPzQzQ2NahQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OAP_sJ3bX_o/WYNo8u0SkXI/AAAAAAAABPE/rI4EHgRZuiwwH17LoD6gmeUPzQzQ2NahQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2386.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Titan Arums (Amorphophallus titanum)</td></tr></tbody></table><i></i>Our second stop was the Bailey Conservatory. &nbsp;The Conservatory includes a greenhouse with a collection of plants from around the world. &nbsp;It is home to the world-famous and endangered Titan Arums, which produces the largest inflorescences in the world. &nbsp;The conservatory also includes many species of palm plants. &nbsp;Bailey's last major work was researching and recording palm plant samples from around the world. &nbsp; <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6iOmKaUIJo/WYDO9TLlAMI/AAAAAAAABMU/Ly63_v7feaYo210doWT9r_HOLuvIQ9TDwCEwYBhgL/s1600/LHBjohnnycash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6iOmKaUIJo/WYDO9TLlAMI/AAAAAAAABMU/Ly63_v7feaYo210doWT9r_HOLuvIQ9TDwCEwYBhgL/s320/LHBjohnnycash.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bailey Standing in doorway</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh_h78ZNKhE/WYDOqKvqrVI/AAAAAAAABMU/MAVFtT2oY-MxbsSqBzbgDjkQIoOx9e3EgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2414.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rh_h78ZNKhE/WYDOqKvqrVI/AAAAAAAABMU/MAVFtT2oY-MxbsSqBzbgDjkQIoOx9e3EgCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_2414.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Here I stand in roughly the same spot Bailey stood on the campus in front of the College of Forestry building. &nbsp;(If you look closely at the bricks you will recognize the building in both.) &nbsp;(If I had known I was going to be posing, I would have worn my Johnny Cash outfit.)<br /><br /><br /><i></i><br /><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RiDFktyaeoc/WYDWm-EfJ0I/AAAAAAAABM4/ai0NqHYYCG83vIIleqOIUGVRIEGcmof6ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RiDFktyaeoc/WYDWm-EfJ0I/AAAAAAAABM4/ai0NqHYYCG83vIIleqOIUGVRIEGcmof6ACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2444.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Botanic Gardens</td></tr></tbody></table><i></i><br /><i></i><i></i><i></i> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/></v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:162pt;height:136.5pt;rotation:90;visibility:visible; mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Rebecca\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png" o:title="" croptop="1454f" cropbottom="4367f" cropleft="12424f" grayscale="t"/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:126pt;height:162pt; visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Rebecca\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg" o:title=""/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div><i></i><br /><i></i> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nbm3n0Ge4j4/WYDWXbrQtQI/AAAAAAAABM0/fptL4GfzvTMizYdmv8zqDO0zTV2XFVpwACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nbm3n0Ge4j4/WYDWXbrQtQI/AAAAAAAABM0/fptL4GfzvTMizYdmv8zqDO0zTV2XFVpwACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2433.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cabbage White on Lavender&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yBSrUgmHza8/WYNCcHNdcyI/AAAAAAAABOk/GhzbH-1zZqY1MiXnOj4tcsaV4LOSQFY0ACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yBSrUgmHza8/WYNCcHNdcyI/AAAAAAAABOk/GhzbH-1zZqY1MiXnOj4tcsaV4LOSQFY0ACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_2291.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Bailey's field journals, book and gloves&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Our next stop on campus was the Botanic Gardens. &nbsp;These are amazing outdoor gardens with a lovely indoor display devoted to Liberty Hyde Bailey. &nbsp;Throughout the campus there are deliberate plantings (many planned and designed by L. H. Bailey) that include trees and wandering nature paths. &nbsp;It's a lush and beautiful "plantation," as Bailey called it.</div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOUdxgSNsX8/WYDZiPPfFpI/AAAAAAAABNM/Mpt2qlm0bYwZ8ikVx_gYFud_0DDIJQM7wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOUdxgSNsX8/WYDZiPPfFpI/AAAAAAAABNM/Mpt2qlm0bYwZ8ikVx_gYFud_0DDIJQM7wCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2450.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A partial view of Cornell from the Bell Tower</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DrZEXXLYBfg/WYDZuW9acNI/AAAAAAAABNQ/2rbcshuFuUoMj7XNb3TKRAC3yGIC1KGaACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DrZEXXLYBfg/WYDZuW9acNI/AAAAAAAABNQ/2rbcshuFuUoMj7XNb3TKRAC3yGIC1KGaACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2480.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D5u3kurlcK0/WYDZ2eViH7I/AAAAAAAABNU/BwygLxm9RAIzes97bKm93pJ9zgYauCaLQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2483%2B%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D5u3kurlcK0/WYDZ2eViH7I/AAAAAAAABNU/BwygLxm9RAIzes97bKm93pJ9zgYauCaLQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2483%2B%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bailiwick</td></tr></tbody></table><div>After lunch, we headed to Bailiwick. &nbsp;Bailey summered at Bailiwick while he was a professor at Cornell. &nbsp;He gave this property to Anna Botsford Comstock (a colleague of Bailey's) who in turn, donated the property to the Girl Scouts for a summer camp, which continues to this day. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5cugJBs-O4/WYM7BbZM-oI/AAAAAAAABOc/GhXzT6jceBYXxLmdXEi9ryA9uAlaCdkVACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2396%2B%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="510" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l5cugJBs-O4/WYM7BbZM-oI/AAAAAAAABOc/GhXzT6jceBYXxLmdXEi9ryA9uAlaCdkVACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2396%2B%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L.H. Bailey sitting outside at Bailiwick</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1-XFEiHOUgo/WYDb8fxcgdI/AAAAAAAABNk/CRwclfHqwJsTGgpAFBEF1q06-vtrqE62wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1-XFEiHOUgo/WYDb8fxcgdI/AAAAAAAABNk/CRwclfHqwJsTGgpAFBEF1q06-vtrqE62wCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2491.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sage Place</td></tr></tbody></table>After our Bailiwick stop we went to the campus and the former home of L. H. Bailey and his family. &nbsp;Sage Place is now a resident hall for students. &nbsp;Right next door&nbsp;is the site where Bailey's hortorium was housed before it was given to Cornell in 1935. &nbsp;It's a beautiful home with lush trees and plantings around the buildings. &nbsp;In the backyard, the garden plots that Liberty Hyde Bailey worked and experimented in are still maintained as garden plots today. <br /><br />Our next stop was dinner with Bob Dirig, a former assistant curator of the horitorim, entomologist, natural history educator, illustrator, writer and editor of Solidago (a newsletter of the Finger Lakes Native Plant Society). &nbsp;Bob was a delight to meet and a wealth of knowledge. &nbsp;He shared stories of the moths he has studied, frogs he has captured and his life as a child growing up in the Catskill area. &nbsp;He also shared articles he has written for teachers to use with students. &nbsp;I look forward to using many of the resources he shared with me. &nbsp;One of his latest pieces he wrote is entitled, <i>The Sassafras Path. &nbsp;</i>It is found<i>&nbsp;</i>in the recent (March 2017) issue of Solidago (flnps.org). &nbsp;In this article, Bob shares his story growing up in the Catskill area of New York. &nbsp;It is clear that he has been a naturalist ever since his early days in the beautiful upstate New York landscape. &nbsp;Near the end of our meeting, he reminded us that there is a weed garden at Cornell and so that became our next stop in the journey. <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PB5D5ULJEIY/WYDdSceOTII/AAAAAAAABNs/LsxqAWSejYk_2ycMAuP0hXC5hyYxNDg2wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PB5D5ULJEIY/WYDdSceOTII/AAAAAAAABNs/LsxqAWSejYk_2ycMAuP0hXC5hyYxNDg2wCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2518.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spotted Knapweed</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BN2zaFmKBjk/WYDdiuBozaI/AAAAAAAABN8/5LNxvWZWknwWBn5yGqgtRfSFe5_kYUu2ACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_2522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BN2zaFmKBjk/WYDdiuBozaI/AAAAAAAABN8/5LNxvWZWknwWBn5yGqgtRfSFe5_kYUu2ACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_2522.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sensitive Fern, Weed Garden</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: center;">"Little Children love the dandelions, why may not we."&nbsp;</i><span style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;-- Liberty Hyde Bailey &nbsp;</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The above photos were taken at the Muenscher Laboratory and Weed Science Teaching Garden. &nbsp;Although all the plantings throughout Cornell are beautiful, this weed garden was especially interesting to me. &nbsp;Our very first planting, during the groundbreaking ceremony at the Liberty Hyde Bailey Outdoor Learning Center in South Haven, was a weed garden. &nbsp;Students were invited to bring in dandelions collected from their own yards and plant them in our first raised bed. &nbsp;Although we have since dedicated that bed to native plants and pollinators, I still refrain from pulling any dandelions in honor of that groundbreaking day.&nbsp;</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3l7I-rSmLuw/WYND4dVk3oI/AAAAAAAABOo/C7px164VYT8ZeYDmJJ9qvVHT9JCuZ8klgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3l7I-rSmLuw/WYND4dVk3oI/AAAAAAAABOo/C7px164VYT8ZeYDmJJ9qvVHT9JCuZ8klgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2532.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lakeview Cemetery sky&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRfnFZwacCA/WYNEJqPq1QI/AAAAAAAABOs/7J9_E8Ea-s8COZBdvqevQWqioqduZRDUQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_2528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRfnFZwacCA/WYNEJqPq1QI/AAAAAAAABOs/7J9_E8Ea-s8COZBdvqevQWqioqduZRDUQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_2528.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liberty Hyde Bailey's final resting place</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Our final stop was the Community Mausoleum at the Lakeview Cemetery. &nbsp;It is here that Liberty Hyde Bailey (alongside his wife and daughter) was laid to rest. &nbsp;We went into the building at dusk. &nbsp;The Mausoleum is in disrepair and the smell of crumbling cement and bird droppings filled the stale air. &nbsp;We needed our cell phones to light the way to Bailey's simple marker and tomb (it was dark and creepy). &nbsp;John and I placed a dandelion on the rim below his name. &nbsp;As we left the decaying building we pondered the choice of Bailey's final resting spot. &nbsp;Why didn't he choose an outdoor site on the hill (like Carl Sagan, who is also buried at Lakeview) overlooking the lake? &nbsp;Why didn't he choose a family mausoleum (like the Cornell family, who have a small more ornate site)? &nbsp;Why such a simple, obscure place that is now growing trees out of the roof, and slowly crumbling apart? &nbsp;It seemed like a sad place; surely he could have found a more public and scenic resting spot. &nbsp;We will never know the answer to these questions, but to me this place seems strangely fitting. &nbsp;Liberty Hyde Bailey clearly did not rest much in his lifetime and he is certainly not resting here. &nbsp;Bailey lives on in the work that he did and the lives that he touched. &nbsp;If you want to remember him, you can hear his voice in his many writings, see his vision in the many paths and plantings throughout Cornell and feel his spirit in the winds and the wilds of this holy earth. &nbsp;He lives in all of us who take the time to appreciate the wonders of this world. &nbsp;The following is a short video from the bell tower at Cornell and of John Linstrom, one of the many people keeping the spirit of Liberty Hyde Bailey alive and well. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AhIK8qxFaLk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AhIK8qxFaLk?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><br /></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-90696858619920877702017-06-30T14:31:00.000-07:002017-06-30T19:08:23.456-07:00Summer School<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-itHFwsnoGYI/WVajXd7aOdI/AAAAAAAABKU/sOrfYOdM8d8Qm6cKlJtRjZWNdB5zy5ogwCLcBGAs/s1600/monarchs%2Bmale%2Band%2Bfemale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-itHFwsnoGYI/WVajXd7aOdI/AAAAAAAABKU/sOrfYOdM8d8Qm6cKlJtRjZWNdB5zy5ogwCLcBGAs/s400/monarchs%2Bmale%2Band%2Bfemale.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monarchs #4 &amp; #5, female and male on common milkweed</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Landscape</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;">By Mary Oliver</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Isn't it plain the sheets of moss, except that</div><div style="text-align: left;">they have no tongues, could lecture</div><div style="text-align: left;">all day if they wanted about</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">spiritual patience? &nbsp;Isn't it clear</div><div style="text-align: left;">the black oaks along the path are standing</div><div style="text-align: left;">as though they were the most fragile of flowers?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Every morning I walk like this around</div><div style="text-align: left;">the pond, thinking: &nbsp;if the doors of my heart</div><div style="text-align: left;">ever close, I am as good as dead.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Every morning, so far, I'm alive. &nbsp;And now</div><div style="text-align: left;">the crows break off from the rest of the darkness</div><div style="text-align: left;">and burst up into the sky -- as though</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">all night they had thought of what they would like</div><div style="text-align: left;">their lives to be, and imagined</div><div style="text-align: left;">their strong, thick wings. &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Isn't it plain the sheets of moss . . . could lecture all day if they wanted . . . " &nbsp;</i>School is out and it is time to listen and learn from moss, insects, birds, trees and the flowers in the field. &nbsp;They may not be able to formally lecture to us, but they are there to teach us nonetheless, if we care to listen. &nbsp;I suspect one lesson is simply that they are amazing. &nbsp;Anything that has evolved and found a niche in nature has an amazing quality and something to teach to those who listen. &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A couple of months ago, I had the good pleasure of sharing my green iguana, Harold, with an after-school science class. &nbsp;The students ranged from six to nine years old and my little presentation was on reptiles. &nbsp;I need to say that had you asked me ten years ago if I could imagine myself having an iguana, I would have said, "never!" &nbsp;<i>Never say never</i>. &nbsp;It's a long story, but I find myself in the unusual position of caring for and opening my heart up to a cold-blooded reptile named Harold. &nbsp;Iguanas are amazing creatures, and Harold is no exception. &nbsp;As I was sharing my reptile with this group of students, I was mentioning that <i>anytime</i> you spend time with <i>anything</i> in nature, you should be prepared to be amazed. &nbsp;This little girl started bopping up and down in her seat and pumping her hand in the air . . . "I love snails!" she exclaimed. &nbsp;"Aren't they amazing?!" I replied. &nbsp;We talked a few minutes about the wonders of snails. &nbsp;How fun! &nbsp;Snails and the children who delight in them make me happy. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0QdEPCNXPJU/WVa3SSGNhwI/AAAAAAAABKw/aM3ZrfQUIjAUFL6HY-KGIJaqpSYinJIqACLcBGAs/s1600/flower%2Band%2Binsect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0QdEPCNXPJU/WVa3SSGNhwI/AAAAAAAABKw/aM3ZrfQUIjAUFL6HY-KGIJaqpSYinJIqACLcBGAs/s400/flower%2Band%2Binsect.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Insects on wildflower</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;">The more I explore the natural world, the more amazing it becomes to me. &nbsp;I suspect I could spend the rest of my life wandering the trails and wild places in my small neighborhood and be amazed and delighted every time, and "<i>if the doors of my heart ever close, I'm as good as dead.</i>" &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The monarchs above were found as eggs in our schoolyard. &nbsp;I have fifteen more chrysalises that will open in the next few days, and I will release them all into the wilds of my backyard. &nbsp;I'm hoping that I'll find more eggs to take in and raise in the days and weeks ahead. &nbsp;Each monarch I have had the pleasure of raising is unique, and every time I watch one grow and transform it is amazing. &nbsp;Aren't insects amazing?! &nbsp;I don't yet know the flower and insect above by proper names but hope to learn more about them in the days ahead. &nbsp;For now, I just enjoyed spending a moment with them and taking their picture on a lovely summer day. &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's what I think . . . when we take time to appreciate the small wonders in this world, we are reminded that <i>we are all small wonders in this world.</i>&nbsp; Let us imagine and remember who we are.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>. . . <i>the crows break off from the rest of the darkness</i><br /><i>and burst up into the sky -- as though</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>all night they had thought of what they would like</i><br /><i>their lives to be, and imagined</i><br /><i>their strong, thick wings. &nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i>A wonderful summer to everyone!lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-20826599498671525072017-06-12T16:49:00.001-07:002017-06-30T12:10:17.076-07:00School Year's Close<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U02WwG3KOyU/WTMrO5yTTLI/AAAAAAAABJQ/z71kSDJFWRooTd9_MwP9Xby5By-kfzUqgCLcB/s1600/recess%2B17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U02WwG3KOyU/WTMrO5yTTLI/AAAAAAAABJQ/z71kSDJFWRooTd9_MwP9Xby5By-kfzUqgCLcB/s400/recess%2B17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recess!</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKdY_p3ebtQ/WTMrRW2l-nI/AAAAAAAABJU/rYQnQCRFpd86r8Izlc_HAgMnWhgbPNQdgCLcB/s1600/monarch%2Beggs%2B17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKdY_p3ebtQ/WTMrRW2l-nI/AAAAAAAABJU/rYQnQCRFpd86r8Izlc_HAgMnWhgbPNQdgCLcB/s320/monarch%2Beggs%2B17.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring Monarch Eggs found in School Yard</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcoTGy0qwJE/WTMrH8b6SXI/AAAAAAAABJM/KXXjBj2XRgEhd3ake2kT8-MMGZai7JAxQCLcB/s1600/Russ%2BSpring%2B17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcoTGy0qwJE/WTMrH8b6SXI/AAAAAAAABJM/KXXjBj2XRgEhd3ake2kT8-MMGZai7JAxQCLcB/s320/Russ%2BSpring%2B17.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russ and Students Birding!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLZe8gGu5vI/WT8fm6lXv5I/AAAAAAAABJ0/3xNPAFHd7I0olMk9CVwWkviXneXIuulawCLcB/s1600/IMG_2199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sLZe8gGu5vI/WT8fm6lXv5I/AAAAAAAABJ0/3xNPAFHd7I0olMk9CVwWkviXneXIuulawCLcB/s320/IMG_2199.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside in the field</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This spring we have had the good pleasure of going birding again with Russ Schipper! &nbsp;We saw and identified several more birds this May than during our February outing and we heard the calls of even more species. &nbsp;Thank you Russ for your ongoing support!<br /><br />The monarchs are back! &nbsp;We have been finding monarch eggs on our school property! &nbsp;It's very exciting to take my students outside for their daily run around the trail and then take a few moments to hunt and find eggs in our front yard! &nbsp;We have about a dozen caterpillars in various stages of development. &nbsp;They are eating milkweed voraciously and pooping at an incredible rate. &nbsp;(I'm hoping I can send a few caterpillars home with eager students.) <br /><br /><br />Thank you to everyone who has supported my students and the outdoor learning center this year! &nbsp;We continue to grow. &nbsp;The large garden in the back will be getting a beautiful sign in the days ahead and we will be doing additional planting at that site next fall (I still have grant money from the <i>Wild Ones</i> organization). &nbsp;In addition, I'm scheming a new trail down to a small pond on the corner of Blue Star Highway and North Shore Drive. &nbsp;It would be a pretty small undertaking, but would add a wonderful view of a small hidden pond. &nbsp;If you are interested in helping, let me know.<br /><br />We are down to our last two days of school and it is always a bittersweet time. &nbsp;I have enjoyed watching this amazing group of students grow and learn over the past several months and I will miss them. &nbsp;It was a privilege to be a part of their lives for a short time. &nbsp;I hope that they learned to love the process and challenge of &nbsp;learning just a bit more and perhaps they also learned a bit more about this amazing planet that we call home from looking right in our own backyard.<br /><br />Happy summer everyone! lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-70778143845766975092017-04-22T12:25:00.001-07:002017-06-03T14:26:51.580-07:00Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qgyBKBpQH9U/WPtQoP1ow8I/AAAAAAAABHw/WIHh8TAp17UQP019JGOH1XfDDCQ2aMz7ACLcB/s1600/IMG_2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qgyBKBpQH9U/WPtQoP1ow8I/AAAAAAAABHw/WIHh8TAp17UQP019JGOH1XfDDCQ2aMz7ACLcB/s400/IMG_2014.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><i><br /></i><i>"Yesterday the twig was brown and bare; Today the glint of green is there; Tomorrow will be leaflets spare; I know no thing so wondrous fair, No miracle so strangely rare. &nbsp;I wonder what will next be there!" </i>&nbsp;--Liberty Hyde Bailey<br /><br />Spring has again graced our community. &nbsp;Our side of the earth faces the sun and we smile. &nbsp;Those of us in education, both students and teachers, look toward the coming of summer and a time for rest from the daily grind and hard work of school. &nbsp;As much as I love summer, I find myself lingering and enjoying this spring season more than I remember. &nbsp;Perhaps as I grow older, new life seems a bit more elusive and sacred. &nbsp;Perhaps this past winter seemed unusually dark and foreboding. &nbsp;At any rate, whether it is due to my aging or the darkness of last season, I find myself seeing this spring with new eyes of wonder and filling me with renewed hope. <br /><br />We have studied many cycles in fourth grade this year . . . the rock cycle, the water cycle, life cycles, the cycle of the earth around the sun and the earth spinning on its axis from day to night and back to day. &nbsp;Our planet is filled with cycles. &nbsp;Volcanos spew out new rocks from melted ancient rocks. &nbsp;Water evaporates into the sky and returns to us in the spring rains. &nbsp;The earth turns toward the sun and the producers of this world turn from brown to green. &nbsp;The various consumers of this world build nests for their young, fill the air with various mating and territorial calls and in general, make a mad scramble to care for the future generations that will need to survive a winter that is sure to return. &nbsp;Our planet is always in motion toward a place it has been before and yet it has never seen. &nbsp;Every spring something brand new will grow and every winter something newly old will die. &nbsp;It's a pretty amazing planet.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3kZsh7PrfU/WPug8DEgiEI/AAAAAAAABIM/DVigEkzpmYER-mqkoR_Kg_sJOt6GPoL6gCLcB/s1600/IMG_2023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N3kZsh7PrfU/WPug8DEgiEI/AAAAAAAABIM/DVigEkzpmYER-mqkoR_Kg_sJOt6GPoL6gCLcB/s320/IMG_2023.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our bulb garden partitioned off as an array.</td></tr></tbody></table>My students and I went out looking for and recording signs of spring a couple of weeks ago. &nbsp;We studied our bulb plot during math one day last week (measuring area, perimeter and flowers). &nbsp;I'm taking all the fourth graders (group by group) out to look for decomposers, producers and consumers. &nbsp;I wish we could spend more time out in the fields and woods. &nbsp;I hope students take time on their own in their backyards. &nbsp;Next week, my students will write letters to our representative, Beth Griffin, in favor of making the monarch our state insect (last year the bill was presented, but due to the time limit and the summer break, the bill expired). &nbsp;This past fall, we raised several monarchs from eggs to caterpillars and then butterflies in our classroom. &nbsp;We also made milkweed seed bombs with some of the seeds we collected in our schoolyard. &nbsp;Perhaps some of those seeds will sprout this spring. &nbsp;We are trying to encourage both milkweed plants and monarch butterflies in our small corner of the world. &nbsp;I have been looking closely for sprouting milkweed, knowing that when the milkweed is up and thriving, the monarchs will return. &nbsp;I am hoping that before we break for summer, my students and I will again see monarch butterflies return and find monarch eggs and larvae. &nbsp;Last fall, we actually had the rare opportunity to watch a newborn caterpillar (moments old) eating its first meal, the egg. &nbsp;We also watched the spinning of a chrysalis and a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. &nbsp;Those moments still linger in my mind and perhaps, in the minds of my students. &nbsp;This spring brings the promise of seeing those processes again, and the cycle continues. . . <br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXicXbcVgm0/WPuk34Sm1XI/AAAAAAAABIc/t-_JBZtSBQkA_Vc_guKuhL-lOj_ssBo5QCLcB/s1600/monarch%2Bcharlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXicXbcVgm0/WPuk34Sm1XI/AAAAAAAABIc/t-_JBZtSBQkA_Vc_guKuhL-lOj_ssBo5QCLcB/s320/monarch%2Bcharlie.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A monarch raised in our class last fall.</td></tr></tbody></table>It is wonderful to find ourselves again in this new spring. &nbsp;Perhaps we can make it a more inviting place for the monarchs and the milkweed, and in doing that, we will make a better place for ourselves.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Peace and Love.<br />&nbsp; <br /><div><br /></div><div><i>"Come with me into the woods where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible."</i> &nbsp;--Mary Oliver, Dog Songs <br /><br /><br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-7723225856411829932017-03-09T16:13:00.000-08:002017-03-15T05:23:58.417-07:00Poetry Night at the Scott Club!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8pG-SGKjkU/WMHFfbCg0EI/AAAAAAAABG8/deZRTPnsRlkAFzm7s1OLhJ-Etm1FUw5QQCLcB/s1600/poetry%2Bnight%2B2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8pG-SGKjkU/WMHFfbCg0EI/AAAAAAAABG8/deZRTPnsRlkAFzm7s1OLhJ-Etm1FUw5QQCLcB/s400/poetry%2Bnight%2B2017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An evening of poetry reading at the Scott Club</td></tr></tbody></table><br />On March 7th, my students read original poetry at the Scott Club! &nbsp;We read our poems to the Scott Club members in the afternoon and then came back that evening and read to family and friends. &nbsp;We had a wonderful time! &nbsp;There is something thrilling about reading a poem you have written, from some creative force from within, to other people. &nbsp;It's a sharing of the soul. &nbsp;After we all read our poems, we took some time to autograph our work in the published booklets each adoring fan received. The Scott Club even gave us a donation, which we immediately spent on pizza for a class party on Friday! <br />The following is one of the many poems that was read . . .<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Grandma</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">by Kayla</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the happiness in the room.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the angelfish in the ocean.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the cookie in the oven.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the butterfly in the meadow.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the sun that brightens my life.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the first leaf to fall in autumn.</div><div style="text-align: center;">And sometimes, you can be the clown at the circus.</div><div style="text-align: center;">But, you are not the mouse hiding under the table&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">or the cat looking for trouble.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I am the flower about to bloom and&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">the hot chocolate on a cold winter's day.</div><div style="text-align: center;">But don't worry, you are still the happiness in the room.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8M2OytWeQ4/WMHJRra5cjI/AAAAAAAABHQ/abGl23vccqUPg9ysJxe1gWfDByMbBezjgCLcB/s1600/Poetry%2Bnight%2BKayla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8M2OytWeQ4/WMHJRra5cjI/AAAAAAAABHQ/abGl23vccqUPg9ysJxe1gWfDByMbBezjgCLcB/s320/Poetry%2Bnight%2BKayla.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Poetry is not the sort of thing you bump into at the Wal-Mart checkout. &nbsp;It is not glamorous like Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie. &nbsp;Poetry is not a popular thing at all . . . and yet it quietly, and sometimes even loudly, persists. &nbsp; Poetry is something like soul music. &nbsp;It grabs you and it pulls you in. &nbsp;It makes you feel as if maybe you aren't alone in this world. &nbsp;It reminds you that love and words from the heart are more important than popularity and fame. &nbsp;I think we all are poets, if we want to be, and there is something redeeming about that. &nbsp;Poems from the heart reach our soul and make us believe that this world is always so much more than <i>this world</i>. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hi3DH5wKMpA/WMHJoeqNj8I/AAAAAAAABHU/5rLMK2X7lZwMUeoH6dfC29ZvPJtEUwvPgCLcB/s1600/Poetry%2Bnight%2B2017%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hi3DH5wKMpA/WMHJoeqNj8I/AAAAAAAABHU/5rLMK2X7lZwMUeoH6dfC29ZvPJtEUwvPgCLcB/s320/Poetry%2Bnight%2B2017%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ode to my Fourth Graders</b><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the caterpillar,</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the faint smell of muddy spring&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">on wet tennis shoes.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the sound of graphite&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">flattening upon the page.</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the light before dawn and</div><div style="text-align: center;">sometimes the dark before the rain. . .</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are the stardust in a sunbeam.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Well technically,</div><div style="text-align: center;">We are all the stardust in a sunbeam.</div><div style="text-align: center;">That being said, you are not, the calm before the storm</div><div style="text-align: center;">And you are clearly not the lizard upon my chair.</div><div style="text-align: center;">No, I am the calm before the storm and</div><div style="text-align: center;">To be quite honest,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Harold is the lizard upon my chair.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I am the bird at the feeder looking in and</div><div style="text-align: center;">I am even the question mark placed carefully upon the page. . .</div><div style="text-align: center;">But don't worry,</div><div style="text-align: center;">You are still the caterpillar</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">eating milkweed,</div><div style="text-align: center;">And somehow,&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">the butterfly.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-57398876318874035152017-02-22T13:28:00.000-08:002017-02-22T16:59:57.877-08:00Citizen Scientists in the Great Backyard Bird Count!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R24HYHU0RFw/WK4Ae3scAjI/AAAAAAAABGY/0Ys6pqulFv4iZxH3piwzWOiRZQrfVYQNgCLcB/s1600/Russ%2B2017A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R24HYHU0RFw/WK4Ae3scAjI/AAAAAAAABGY/0Ys6pqulFv4iZxH3piwzWOiRZQrfVYQNgCLcB/s320/Russ%2B2017A.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sighting a bird with Russ</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rfuUcJv2z4/WK3_yX-6uKI/AAAAAAAABGQ/j_U4fiDfIUUF5X7nZtPExeDwxh4SY7MYACLcB/s1600/Russ%2B2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rfuUcJv2z4/WK3_yX-6uKI/AAAAAAAABGQ/j_U4fiDfIUUF5X7nZtPExeDwxh4SY7MYACLcB/s320/Russ%2B2017.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching and identifying the bird</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">On February 18<sup>th</sup>, my students participated in the Cornell Backyard Bird Count with help from birding expert, Russ Schipper.&nbsp;&nbsp; Mr. Schipper, from the Kalamazoo Audubon Society, has come to North Shore for the past five years, sharing his love and expertise of birds with all of the fourth graders.&nbsp; Every fall he comes to each classroom and teaches a lesson on bird adaptations, habitats and identification.&nbsp; This year, he also came to the fifth grade classrooms and taught a new class specifically on owls.&nbsp; He returns each February and takes my class into our outdoor learning center to identify birds and help submit our findings to Cornell University.&nbsp; Cornell collects information from around the world to analyze trends in bird populations.&nbsp; Students were able to watch online as the data was reported.&nbsp; This was the first year that we saw robins in our backyard during this count.&nbsp; We learned that some robins overwinter here and feed on fruit when insects are unavailable.&nbsp; The robins were eating sumac berries.&nbsp; A huge thank you to Russ Schipper for his dedication to educating and inspiring students at North Shore Elementary!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-15930236313864328062017-01-25T17:40:00.000-08:002017-02-01T15:13:45.276-08:00Women's March on Washington: We are Worthy!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dvHPuiZPkXY/WIfXV-ejKRI/AAAAAAAABFw/MB84jOu2S24tG1pU6ShureYx6peWGw-awCLcB/s1600/36B9D0CF-05D3-4239-8C48-CA6F86F978AD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dvHPuiZPkXY/WIfXV-ejKRI/AAAAAAAABFw/MB84jOu2S24tG1pU6ShureYx6peWGw-awCLcB/s400/36B9D0CF-05D3-4239-8C48-CA6F86F978AD.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with my sign and my new friends standing in front of a memorial of<br />&nbsp;Lincoln and the Emancipation; on our way to the March!&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>Last Saturday, I had the amazing opportunity to walk with well over 500,000 amazing people in the Women's March on Washington. &nbsp;I need to say, this is not intended to be a political blog. &nbsp;The political issues of the day are complex and I have always believed that there are at least two sides to a story and more than one way to "skin a cat." &nbsp;I have voted in every election since I was 18 years old and although many times my choice did not win, I have never protested the outcome. &nbsp;In fact, walking on Saturday, was <i>not</i> a protest and it was<i> not</i> an anti-Trump rally (the protesters were out on Friday, during the inauguration). &nbsp;This was different. &nbsp;This was not an anti-Trump event. &nbsp;This event was for women and the people and the planet that they love. &nbsp;I went knowing that I had to be there. &nbsp;I wasn't even sure exactly&nbsp;<i>why</i> I had to be there, I just knew I was going. &nbsp;Perhaps, I felt something like a fall monarch being pulled to its homeland in Mexico that it had never seen before. &nbsp;It felt like instinct. &nbsp;And so. . . I went.<br /><br />I made a friend on the bus I took out of Ann Arbor (we spent two nights on a bus together and shared our life stories). &nbsp;Kiersten is a strong and amazing person that I'll never forget (standing to my left in the photo). &nbsp;We later met up with 3 other amazing women from other buses and we instantly became a group of five. &nbsp;My son John traveled from New York but we never were able to meet due to the incredible crowds (although amazingly, he bumped into his cousin and her fiance). &nbsp;My son Ben, marched in Detroit.<br /><br />Our group started out at the stadium (where our buses parked). &nbsp;We all had purchased transit cards to ride the subway to the rally, but the subways were packed and we chose to walk. &nbsp;As we walked, there were lots of police and crossing guards helping us along the way. &nbsp;Those of us close to officers, thanked them. &nbsp;Some of us were given a high-five as we passed. &nbsp;People came out of their row houses to say, "Welcome to DC! &nbsp;Thanks for coming!" &nbsp;We even got a smile from a guard dressed in a camo uniform and standing in front of a camo painted tank. &nbsp;It made me laugh and think I was witnessing <i>visual</i> "doublespeak." &nbsp;The last thing that tank or person was, was camouflaged. &nbsp;They should really paint their tanks with row houses, streetlights and sidewalks if they want to look camouflaged and the guard should have ditched the drab colors and gone with pink. &nbsp;We were several blocks away from the rally on our walk and we desperately hoped to find a bathroom (you can imagine the lines that we women made). &nbsp;We stepped into a tiny diner and feared we might be kicked out. &nbsp;Not only did they let us use their facilities, but they gave us free coffee. &nbsp;Amazing. &nbsp;We hadn't even arrived on the mall and Washington DC was already pouring out love.<br /><br />If you watched the news, you probably heard more than I did of the speeches that were presented (I hope to listen to some of them on YouTube in the days ahead). &nbsp;It was amazingly crowded and hard to get around. &nbsp;But even in the thickest crowds, people were polite and generous and kind. &nbsp;At one point our group was pinned against the back of a long row of porta potties. &nbsp;We couldn't move and we couldn't hear and it became hard to breathe. &nbsp;We decided that it was time to move and as we tried to get out, I told folks in front of us that we had someone with claustrophobia in our group and we needed to move. &nbsp;It was a bit like the red sea parting. . . people started moving and calling ahead, "they need to get out! &nbsp;Make room!" &nbsp;All day long, people were kind and patient and generous. <br /><br />During the march there were several times when the gravity and beauty of the moment brought me to tears. &nbsp;As we marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, we were surrounded by people from all walks of life. &nbsp;There were young adults, families, elderly couples and people in wheelchairs. &nbsp;There were people of all colors and faiths and backgrounds marching together in grand unity down the street toward the White House. &nbsp;And it was the diversity and the love that made this march so amazing. &nbsp;We were there for our own reasons but I think we were there, even more, for each other. &nbsp;It is powerful to feel that you are in a crowd that marches, not for themselves but for you and that you march for them. &nbsp;It was a mothering of sorts. &nbsp;There was not a single arrest and there was hardly any litter (although all the garbage cans were overflowing, garbage was stacked neatly around the cans). &nbsp;This was a women's march. &nbsp;And for the first time, I really understood that we need women in leadership. &nbsp;We need peaceful, powerful and positive movements led by women. <br /><br />As we headed back to our buses at the stadium, one woman and her sign stood out. &nbsp;I never saw her face, she was ahead of me. &nbsp;Her sign was small and handwritten with black sharpie marker on cardboard. &nbsp;The march was over so it was swinging by her side. &nbsp;The sign read, "I Am Worthy." &nbsp;For some reason, that image is ingrained in my mind and in my heart. . . . I think that is what I was seeking and why I was marching. &nbsp;I wanted to say to women (and men and animals and rocks and trees and every creature everywhere) . . . <i>you</i> are worthy and I desperately wanted to hear, "<i>you</i> are worthy too." &nbsp; <br /><br />Thank you everyone who marched with me and for everyone who made me feel worthy. &nbsp;We are Worthy. &nbsp;We are <i>all</i> Worthy! &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-33611674339907887092016-12-20T14:51:00.000-08:002016-12-28T11:33:59.480-08:00Teaching A Growth Mindset<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6m83xE3Vr80/WFViV3BfclI/AAAAAAAABFM/npTitEKiKQYVsHvSg0D5NVcpAfpP0DHvQCLcB/s1600/growthmindset.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6m83xE3Vr80/WFViV3BfclI/AAAAAAAABFM/npTitEKiKQYVsHvSg0D5NVcpAfpP0DHvQCLcB/s320/growthmindset.png" width="270" /></a></div>I have the above&nbsp;<i>Growth Mindset</i> image posted in the front of my classroom and it reflects the current brain research on best teaching practice and learning. &nbsp;Successful students need to have what is called a "growth mindset." &nbsp;There has been a great deal written about growth mindset, but in a nutshell, it's about learning from challenges and mistakes. &nbsp;It's about figuring out what you don't know and seeing those challenges as an opportunity to learn and discover. &nbsp;This mindset means that education is not about perfection or IQ; rather it's about working on things that are hard and knowing that there is a great deal that we still don't know and can learn. &nbsp;A growth mindset is what makes us smarter and more productive. &nbsp;Most of us have been around long enough to know that we learn from mistakes and that when we overcome challenges we grow. &nbsp;It's logical that having a growth mindset leads to learning. &nbsp;The real question is, how do we impart this frame of mind to our students? &nbsp;We have students who come to school expecting learning to be easy, because they have been told they are brilliant. &nbsp;And at the other extreme, &nbsp;we have students who believe that they can't possible learn. &nbsp;They think that anything that requires thinking is somehow beyond their ability. &nbsp;They feel stupid even before they know what the challenge or lesson is. &nbsp;How does a teacher proceed? <br /><br />I suppose if I am honest, I have been both those types of students myself. &nbsp;There have been times when I've felt like I knew it all and other times when I was sure I was totally incapable of learning anything about the subject matter at hand. &nbsp;And I'm pretty sure that in the future, there will be more times such as those. &nbsp;How do I proceed? &nbsp;I think that <i>teaching</i> a growth mindset requires <i>having</i> a growth mindset. &nbsp;Having a growth mindset as a teacher means being vulnerable in front of your students. &nbsp;It's about sharing your lack of knowledge as well as your knowledge. &nbsp;It means we are never done learning. &nbsp;It's about teaching that the process of learning is more important than the product. &nbsp;The irony is that, when you focus on the process, the product usually improves (although sometimes it takes a lifetime or more). &nbsp;If I want my students to have a growth mindset, I need to remind myself that I need to have a growth mindset. &nbsp;I need to always be learning and growing and becoming a better student as well as a better teacher. <br /><br />I suspect that developing a growth mindset will be a lifetime struggle and adventure for me on this journey called life, but I know that it is worth striving for. &nbsp;In fact, I think we all <i>started</i> with a growth mindset. &nbsp;Have you ever seen a baby stop babbling because he/she couldn't pronounce the words properly? &nbsp;Or have you ever seen a toddler stop trying to walk, because he/she toddled into a fall? &nbsp;We come into this world already hardwired with a growth mindset. Somewhere along the way, it can slip away from us and I think that's when we start growing old. <br /><br />Developing a growth mindset is not simply an academic pursuit; it's a life pursuit and it requires action to be meaningful. &nbsp;Can you image if our culture embraced a growth mindset . . .? What if the criminal justice system operated from a growth mindset? &nbsp;It would no longer be about punishment; it would be about restorative justice and forgiveness. &nbsp;We would try to help people become better citizens and to learn from their mistakes so that they could live productive lives. &nbsp;(If you have ever met a person who has spent time in jail and has had a second chance to redeem his/her life, you know what a gift that person is to the community). &nbsp;What if politicians embraced a growth mindset? &nbsp;Can you imagine?! &nbsp;They would admit mistakes and share areas of growth instead of the negative attack mode that was so rampant this election year. &nbsp;And more importantly, can you imagine if the Senate and Congress had a growth mindset instead of a partisan mindset? &nbsp;Discussions and actions wouldn't focus on party lines; rather, they would focus on learning from mistakes and from each other and then<i> getting down to work</i>.<br /><br />In the end, I think that having a growth mindset is about the positive actions that we take from wherever we are. &nbsp;It's humility and hard work and a belief that we can make this world a better place. &nbsp;And isn't it wonderful, that we are born into this quest? &nbsp;It gives me hope for our future. &nbsp;In the words of Mohandas Gandhi . . . &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br /><b>"It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. &nbsp;You have to do the right thing. &nbsp;It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. &nbsp;But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. &nbsp;You may never know what results come from your action. &nbsp;But if you do nothing, there will be no result." </b><br /><br />Peace and Love. lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-67228608502571562622016-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:002016-11-22T14:17:00.173-08:00Words of Wisdom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-voFyNkHCR74/WDMXs3XfyiI/AAAAAAAABEw/BhDvqmuHIlUtZpJ8nhq9Stq9RBnFkVVVgCLcB/s1600/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Famous-Quotes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-voFyNkHCR74/WDMXs3XfyiI/AAAAAAAABEw/BhDvqmuHIlUtZpJ8nhq9Stq9RBnFkVVVgCLcB/s400/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Famous-Quotes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let us hope for a great deal of light and love.</span></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-43549693309100027722016-11-06T13:19:00.000-08:002016-11-07T13:36:53.656-08:00Politics and Teaching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-de-XU9bq3fo/WB892XYVawI/AAAAAAAABD4/h87EsqpfTpoGLBm7PAxSlVynYeONcPyjwCLcB/s1600/time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-de-XU9bq3fo/WB892XYVawI/AAAAAAAABD4/h87EsqpfTpoGLBm7PAxSlVynYeONcPyjwCLcB/s320/time.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The End is Near" Time Magazine Cover</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We are in an election year like no other. &nbsp;It is a year when the sides are so polarized that whichever side you are on, you are pretty much sure the <i>other </i>side is crazy (and maybe criminal). &nbsp;My students asked me who I was voting for the other day and I gave my usual response, "I don't share who I'm voting for." &nbsp;But this year I realized that if I told them, about half my students would lose total respect for me (or if not my students, surely their parents who might not hear about the math assignment, but would certainly hear about <i>who Mrs. Linstrom was voting for)</i>. &nbsp;In class, we have talked about the importance of voting. Next week, we will talk more about the democratic process.&nbsp;We have discussed the right to our own opinions and the importance of respecting other people's opinions, but this has been a hard year for adults to set that example. &nbsp;Politics has become something of a mud slinging circus that we don't really want our children to view (and certainly not to emulate). &nbsp;It is clear that people on either side find it nearly impossible to image the other point of view (and I will admit, this includes myself). &nbsp;What has happened to us and how do we move forward? &nbsp;Next week when the elections are over, how will be respond? &nbsp;Politics and policies are important. &nbsp;How should we proceed?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's what I think . . . On Wednesday, I will still have twenty-eight students who need to learn long division. &nbsp;I will still have students who will walk into my class bearing the burden of a "less than adequate childhood." &nbsp;I will still have students who think that they can't learn (or they are not smart enough) and some students who think they know it all. &nbsp;I need to teach them they are both wrong and they are both right. &nbsp;I will still have students who read at about the first grade level and some who read at about the sixth grade level and they all need to be challenged. &nbsp;I will have students who are scared to go home and some who are scared to come to school. &nbsp;My plate is full. &nbsp;I can't change the world, but I can keep trying. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On Wednesday I know that the monarchs I raised late summer, will continue their flight to Mexico. The milkweed in our gardens will invest in their roots and rhizomes, and lay dormant through the winter. &nbsp;When spring arrives, the milkweed we planted (and the milkweed that no one planted) will grow and feed the great-great-great grandchildren of the monarchs we raised (and the monarchs we didn't raise). &nbsp;If there is a wall between us and Mexico, they will fly over it. &nbsp;Life will continue.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mother Teresa was quoted to say, "What takes a lifetime to build could be destroyed in a day . . . build anyway. . ." &nbsp;I think she is right. &nbsp;This life is about building. &nbsp;We build, we plant, we work and all the rest is just . . . all the rest. &nbsp;We have children to raise and a planet to care for. &nbsp;On Wednesday, like every day, we have work to do. &nbsp;Let us keep building. &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCBv5_Pk3w4/WB-Y-BepPsI/AAAAAAAABEQ/qvPjkWzDN-cbdWdXBiOYXvEXBlPqd5lgQCLcB/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCBv5_Pk3w4/WB-Y-BepPsI/AAAAAAAABEQ/qvPjkWzDN-cbdWdXBiOYXvEXBlPqd5lgQCLcB/s400/023.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Headed to Mexico</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ekZJ-nZymiU/WB5FUFRN7OI/AAAAAAAABDg/gHxM-qivx0oq_BSyXwMQ7jy5XzP4tEzTQCLcB/s1600/planting%2Bmilkweed3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ekZJ-nZymiU/WB5FUFRN7OI/AAAAAAAABDg/gHxM-qivx0oq_BSyXwMQ7jy5XzP4tEzTQCLcB/s400/planting%2Bmilkweed3.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milkweed Planting (saved from the lawn mower)</td></tr></tbody></table>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-64449997191830368192016-09-24T10:28:00.001-07:002016-09-25T04:44:47.205-07:00Outdoor Learning Center Additions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5p_aRy4oEUE/V-akb3UUrPI/AAAAAAAAA_M/Bv2mvXPvIXcMGJcJnNmflutH3QoDZZctwCLcB/s1600/sept%2B17%2Barchway.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5p_aRy4oEUE/V-akb3UUrPI/AAAAAAAAA_M/Bv2mvXPvIXcMGJcJnNmflutH3QoDZZctwCLcB/s320/sept%2B17%2Barchway.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New archways onto our two nature paths!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jUtEyqmp-ME/V-ak-x5T_iI/AAAAAAAAA_U/RsAwORgHqzEq1t-yLPBNwcpxZYi9FwfbQCLcB/s1600/Sept%2B17%2Bweaving.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jUtEyqmp-ME/V-ak-x5T_iI/AAAAAAAAA_U/RsAwORgHqzEq1t-yLPBNwcpxZYi9FwfbQCLcB/s320/Sept%2B17%2Bweaving.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weaving into our new butterfly sculpture!<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vTRWwQBCca8/V-alWBLeh-I/AAAAAAAAA_Y/qbanjmKxfsgRx72pKF9P15Bh9NTTU-RHQCEw/s1600/sept%2B17%2Bplanting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vTRWwQBCca8/V-alWBLeh-I/AAAAAAAAA_Y/qbanjmKxfsgRx72pKF9P15Bh9NTTU-RHQCEw/s320/sept%2B17%2Bplanting.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planting native species into our gardens!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A5rI6NLVBUo/V-al2Jvi9jI/AAAAAAAAA_c/jXL5XWl-tdcDr2WphISFOe-RiijKDhANgCLcB/s1600/sept%2B17%2Bm%2Bzillions.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A5rI6NLVBUo/V-al2Jvi9jI/AAAAAAAAA_c/jXL5XWl-tdcDr2WphISFOe-RiijKDhANgCLcB/s320/sept%2B17%2Bm%2Bzillions.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Zillins, Eagle Scout helping with our new Butterfly Garden!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RY9C9_4Mw6I/V-arlkRqrBI/AAAAAAAAA_4/UQ2yn44HGXgSaiUZ-XfOoTbnvYcNblGKwCLcB/s1600/butterfly%2Bweaving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RY9C9_4Mw6I/V-arlkRqrBI/AAAAAAAAA_4/UQ2yn44HGXgSaiUZ-XfOoTbnvYcNblGKwCLcB/s1600/butterfly%2Bweaving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RY9C9_4Mw6I/V-arlkRqrBI/AAAAAAAAA_4/UQ2yn44HGXgSaiUZ-XfOoTbnvYcNblGKwCLcB/s200/butterfly%2Bweaving.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iNRPYvQ9sdY/V-akwdmQmZI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/zDtNqImLIcMWZCEPcswLS3_aMsPBLMbggCLcB/s1600/Sept%2B17%2Bbutterflies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iNRPYvQ9sdY/V-akwdmQmZI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/zDtNqImLIcMWZCEPcswLS3_aMsPBLMbggCLcB/s320/Sept%2B17%2Bbutterflies.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterfly Release!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On September 17th, we celebrated the new additions to our Outdoor Learning Center here at North Shore Elementary School! &nbsp;Thanks to a great many generous people, the vision and support for this project continues to grow. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you to <b>Lisa Rostar</b>, art teacher who received a grant to have sculptor, <b>Kathy Kreager</b> create the amazing butterfly sculpture that now graces our backyard. &nbsp;Lisa received the grant from the School Foundation and the Garden Club. &nbsp;It is beautiful! &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you to <b>Tom Small</b> and the good people from <i>Wild Ones,</i> out of Kalamazoo, for the grant they awarded me to develop a butterfly garden. &nbsp;I purchased plants from Hidden Savanna, a native species nursery out of Kalamazoo. &nbsp;The garden is well underway and we couldn't have done this without your support!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you to <b>Michael Zillins</b>, Eagle Scout, who will help develop our butterfly garden! &nbsp;He and his troop will create a border, a sign and enlarge the mulched area of the garden. &nbsp;Michael is the fourth Eagle Scout who has helped with components of this outdoor project. &nbsp;The Eagle Scouts of South Haven have invested in this project from the start and we are grateful!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you to <b>Frank Lawson</b>, South Haven artist and friend, who made beautiful archways to the entrances of our two paths into the woods! &nbsp;Stepping under those arches is a great way to begin a journey into our outdoor classrooms. &nbsp;Thanks Frank!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This project began six years ago in honor of Dr. Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr., born and raised on a local farm in South Haven. &nbsp;He left his home to become a scientist, professor, writer and poet. &nbsp;Bailey was instrumental in starting what was termed, "The Nature-Study Movement." &nbsp;In his book, <b>The Nature Study Idea</b>, (1904) Bailey writes to the question;&nbsp;<i>What is Nature Study? &nbsp;</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b>". . . its purpose is to enable every person to live a richer life, whatever his business or profession may be. &nbsp;Nature-study is a revolt from the teaching of mere science in the elementary grades. . . Nature-study is not science. &nbsp;It is not knowledge. &nbsp;It is not facts. &nbsp;It is spirit. &nbsp;It is concerned with the child's outlook on the world."</b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bailey wanted to share his love for learning and exploring in the natural world with all students. &nbsp;I hope that we capture some of that spirit and share some of his joy with the students of North Shore Elementary. &nbsp;Thank you to everyone who supports this endeavor! &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-77211389874613302942016-09-01T08:16:00.000-07:002016-09-02T09:16:11.555-07:00Harold, The Wandering Iguana<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xXdc-QAJZi8/V8HFD_1xs6I/AAAAAAAAA9M/CkqQjWp6k9w4Q71DTacWVGohT7T9PwpawCLcB/s1600/Harold%2Brescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xXdc-QAJZi8/V8HFD_1xs6I/AAAAAAAAA9M/CkqQjWp6k9w4Q71DTacWVGohT7T9PwpawCLcB/s320/Harold%2Brescue.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harold, after 7 weeks on the lam</td></tr></tbody></table>Thanks to the kindness of neighbors and the first responders of South Haven, my green iguana Harold is back home. &nbsp;Harold disappeared on July 2nd. &nbsp;He was outside for his morning sunshine in his cage and although closed, it wasn't completely secured. &nbsp;Harold nuzzled his way out and vanished within a span of five minutes while I was inside making his lunch. &nbsp;My family and I searched the trees and bushes in our yard, the back ravine and our neighbors yards for hours and then days. &nbsp;I left the cage open and stocked with food, hoping he would find his way back home. &nbsp;I called the humane society and reported his loss in the hopes someone might see him. &nbsp;Over a month went by and still sometimes I would go and gaze into the trees and wonder where Harold had gone. . . I finally put the cage away and faced the reality that he was probably eaten by a racoon or hawk. <br /><br />Harold enjoys his freedom and when he is in my classroom, he spends a great deal of time hanging in the top of my ficus tree or sitting on my desk, keeping me from the distractions of paperwork. &nbsp;His cage is more of a safe space for him; a place he goes when he wants to eat or escape the busyness in the classroom. &nbsp;He appreciates his personal space. &nbsp;Iguanas are not social creatures. &nbsp;They prefer to observe the world from a distance and yet, he has a funny way of getting close to me without wanting me to pick him up or hold him. &nbsp;When I'm in the room alone, he will most often wander over to where I'm working and find a place that's just a bit above me to sit. &nbsp;He will cock his head and watch me. &nbsp;He seems as fascinated by me as I am of him, and although neither of us could begin to imagine what the other was thinking, we have a working relationship and a certain fondness for each other. <br /><br />My students think Harold is pretty cool even though I don't let them hold him or even really pet him. &nbsp;They understand that he is not your average pet. &nbsp;He is, in fact, a wild animal. &nbsp;I'm not sure iguanas should even be called "pets." &nbsp;I'm not sure pet stores should sell them, to be completely honest. &nbsp;That being said, Harold lives in our classroom and my students and I hope to give him the space he needs and respect his privacy as much as possible. &nbsp; Maybe there is a lesson in all of this and maybe not. &nbsp;Either way, Harold makes our life a little bit better and I'm so glad that he is back.<br /><br />Harold was spotted on August 23rd, about four blocks from home. &nbsp;By the time the humane society contracted me and I arrived on the scene, there were two fire trucks, four police cars and lots of neighbors staring into a huge maple tree. &nbsp;It took the tallest fire truck ladder to reach Harold. &nbsp;By the time he was captured and riding down the ladder in the hands of a firefighter, he looked absolutely terrified and I was in complete shock. &nbsp;Harold had survived seven weeks on the streets and in the wilds of South Haven. &nbsp;He was a bit thinner and had a few scrapes and a missing toe but he looked pretty good, all things considered. &nbsp;I can't imagine how he spent his days and nights or where he traveled. &nbsp;That will be a writing assignment for my fourth graders. &nbsp;I look forward to the stories they write. &nbsp;As for Harold, he is keeping silent, as is his way. &nbsp; <br />&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yeRbV_P5ck/V8hEX0MnINI/AAAAAAAAA9w/6PNWnWj3zvkWoPPXrHyoCC0l5QX9JOSnwCLcB/s1600/Harold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yeRbV_P5ck/V8hEX0MnINI/AAAAAAAAA9w/6PNWnWj3zvkWoPPXrHyoCC0l5QX9JOSnwCLcB/s320/Harold.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harold, back home in his tree</td></tr></tbody></table><br />lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-14983050595971446262016-08-16T08:55:00.001-07:002016-08-17T13:34:22.753-07:00The Gardening of Life and Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKtpT9F2Neo/V7MFaCosHyI/AAAAAAAAA6o/Dq0f9ql19Jc66WfVCPjftAQtD23kTxPSACLcB/s1600/skipper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKtpT9F2Neo/V7MFaCosHyI/AAAAAAAAA6o/Dq0f9ql19Jc66WfVCPjftAQtD23kTxPSACLcB/s320/skipper.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zabulon Skipper on Rattlesnake Master</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><b>"There are two parts to the common day, --the performance of the day, and the background of the day. &nbsp;Many of us are so submerged in the work we do and in the pride of life that the real day slips by unnoted and unknown. &nbsp;But there are some who part the hours now and then and let the background show through. &nbsp;There are others who keep the sentiments alive as an undertone and who hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none; &nbsp;theirs is the full life; &nbsp;their backgrounds are never forgotten; &nbsp;and the backgrounds are the realities." </b></i>&nbsp;--Liberty Hyde Bailey (1928)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">The above quote was taken from a book Bailey wrote entitled&nbsp;<i>The Garden Lover</i>. &nbsp;I first heard this quote when John Stempien (former director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum) shared it during a lecture (Breakfast at the Bailey's) he led several years ago. &nbsp;I liked the quote so much I wrote about it in a former blog post entitled "The Background of the Day" (July 2011). &nbsp;John reminded me of it last week when he gave me a copy of the book from which the quote was taken. &nbsp;What an unexpected and wonderful gift! &nbsp;Thank you John! &nbsp; And here I am again; pulled into writing about this amazing sentiment written by Bailey so long ago. . . &nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">In that former post, I talked about the background of my days when my family spent time on the south shore of Lake Superior in our cabin surrounded by woods and overlooking that amazing and wild lake. &nbsp;Those <i>background</i> days have colored and enriched my life and I'm forever grateful to my parents for sharing such natural wonders with me. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">It may seem odd that the above quote is taken from a gardening book, but Bailey draws us into a larger picture of the gardener and of gardens in his writing. &nbsp;His use of these words is much more expansive than simply taking care of flowers in a yard. &nbsp;He clearly sees the natural world as a garden and essential to our lives. &nbsp;And when we let that background show through we are enriched (<i>theirs is the full life; their backgrounds are never forgotten; and the backgrounds are the realities</i>). &nbsp;What I hear in his words is a metaphor for both learning and living. &nbsp;I hear the deep calling to grow and learn as a gardener and to tend to the lessons learned in the garden of your life. &nbsp;This is what I think he means when he writes, "<i>There are others who keep the sentiments alive as an undertone and who hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none. . .</i>" &nbsp;Imagine learning as the tending of a garden and the lessons learned as the plants and flowers and trees of our life. &nbsp;It seems the perfect metaphor for teacher and student. &nbsp;We are always growing and learning. &nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">I have the privilege of teaching elementary school. &nbsp;I spent several years in kindergarten, first grade and now fourth grade. &nbsp;Through these many years, I've learned perhaps more from my students than I have taught. &nbsp;Young students (kindergarteners and first graders especially) learn by play, observation and experimentation. &nbsp;Learning is as natural as breathing to them. &nbsp;It is who they are. &nbsp;They don't categorize and separate the different fields of knowledge; they are simply filled with wonder and that wonder is the basis of their education. &nbsp;When they are engaged in this way, it is amazing the amount of learning that they are able to acquire. &nbsp;My job was simply to reveal the joy of learning and present the material. &nbsp;The children took it from there. &nbsp;It really was like preparing a garden with rich soil and a few seeds and watching the real miracle of growth take place. &nbsp;It was always a wonder to participate in this process, like a gardener delighting in the plants that grow. &nbsp;And every day it was surprising and full. &nbsp;I was never sure what amazing discovery a child might obtain or what might blossom in the sunlight. &nbsp;As students mature, they lose some of that natural wonder, but I believe that my job is to remind them of that instinct (we should never lose) and to continue to be a gardener. . . to give them the opportunities to find joy in learning and to remind them that learning is foundationally about joy and discovery. &nbsp;It is who we are and what we are called to do in this life. &nbsp;If I can share that, it seems that they too<i>&nbsp;can hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none . . . &nbsp;</i>Happy learning to those students and teachers out there in the world preparing to head back to school to blossom and grow!&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;">The following photos are from some of the gardening I've been doing in my life this summer . . . planting native species, looking for butterflies and enjoying the beauty of the day. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-Is00TM_Hw/V7MFIcV9tDI/AAAAAAAAA60/-ocGXyK5-voHHqonSbyPOcE-mnjCLMBtwCEw/s1600/Eastern%2BSwallowtail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T-Is00TM_Hw/V7MFIcV9tDI/AAAAAAAAA60/-ocGXyK5-voHHqonSbyPOcE-mnjCLMBtwCEw/s400/Eastern%2BSwallowtail.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastern Swallowtail</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_QYszScdj0/V7MFM3LvPLI/AAAAAAAAA6k/HHZ_tHr8w8QQaetqiPoZv_nIn4nf-2bFgCLcB/s1600/cabbage%2Bwhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_QYszScdj0/V7MFM3LvPLI/AAAAAAAAA6k/HHZ_tHr8w8QQaetqiPoZv_nIn4nf-2bFgCLcB/s400/cabbage%2Bwhite.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cabbage White</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7eXfRGmHEo4/V7MFkB0fB8I/AAAAAAAAA60/HH_uGU9I40AODTtE29PJVL2QJsmqTiC3QCEw/s1600/MTWorkshop%2Bme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7eXfRGmHEo4/V7MFkB0fB8I/AAAAAAAAA60/HH_uGU9I40AODTtE29PJVL2QJsmqTiC3QCEw/s400/MTWorkshop%2Bme.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monarch</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-45716870999325360762016-07-06T14:23:00.001-07:002016-07-07T05:58:27.289-07:00Monarch Teacher Network Comes to South Haven!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R6Q3znMRn8s/V31rJGfi1wI/AAAAAAAAA5M/ai-KQHmOU30D3lyZdjRH6me7ST8iPoEWACLcB/s1600/IMG_4668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R6Q3znMRn8s/V31rJGfi1wI/AAAAAAAAA5M/ai-KQHmOU30D3lyZdjRH6me7ST8iPoEWACLcB/s320/IMG_4668.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lisa releasing a butterfly</td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>"In the end, we will preserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." </i></b>&nbsp;--Baba Dioum<br /><div><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n2SwxWaqvj4/V31sZMwzSoI/AAAAAAAAA5c/Y90Vwhls7i00ijfsDi_4Y0n7L7L9BqiEgCLcB/s1600/MTWorkshop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n2SwxWaqvj4/V31sZMwzSoI/AAAAAAAAA5c/Y90Vwhls7i00ijfsDi_4Y0n7L7L9BqiEgCLcB/s320/MTWorkshop.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching a monarch come out of its chrysalis&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PcscayKJgIM/V31rUVqcRqI/AAAAAAAAA5U/-bLIQJxr6JU8QAhMFm4GJeYa9Zi58veAACLcB/s1600/IMG_4689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PcscayKJgIM/V31rUVqcRqI/AAAAAAAAA5U/-bLIQJxr6JU8QAhMFm4GJeYa9Zi58veAACLcB/s320/IMG_4689.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cindy, hard at work!</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wD1E3GiapIw/V31se2ZtJKI/AAAAAAAAA5o/GNYA1RQMvFksCaMDW-W_Y1HsQPdoF7hmACLcB/s1600/MTWorkshop1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wD1E3GiapIw/V31se2ZtJKI/AAAAAAAAA5o/GNYA1RQMvFksCaMDW-W_Y1HsQPdoF7hmACLcB/s320/MTWorkshop1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Becoming one with the monarch</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rae4EQpzW3A/V31scS03JHI/AAAAAAAAA5k/E8ZAJ5SQ1bgVhtHFBW-bF3wXNKTQ7ckeQCLcB/s1600/MTWorkshop3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rae4EQpzW3A/V31scS03JHI/AAAAAAAAA5k/E8ZAJ5SQ1bgVhtHFBW-bF3wXNKTQ7ckeQCLcB/s320/MTWorkshop3.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tagging a monarch</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Last week teachers from Mattawan, Paw Paw, Detroit and South Haven gathered at North Shore Elementary School in South Haven to participate in a two-day workshop devoted to incorporating the monarch butterfly into the educational setting. &nbsp;It was a hands-on workshop that left teachers with everything they need to raise monarchs and integrate monarch lessons into their classrooms. &nbsp;Teachers learned how to construct rearing cages and butterfly houses. &nbsp;They learned how to find, raise and care for monarchs throughout their life stages; they learned about milkweed and the other insects that live in the milkweed patch; they learned the science and story behind the life cycle and the migration routes of this amazing insect and lessons and games that incorporate the monarch into math, science, reading, writing and social studies. &nbsp;(A guide and DVD with details on both the science of monarchs and monarch activities for students of all ages was also included in the workshop.) &nbsp; A huge thank you to <b>Brian Hayes</b>, director of the Monarch Teacher Network who makes these workshops happen! &nbsp;And a huge thank you to <b>Erik Mollenhauer</b> (founder and former director of the MTN) and <b>Cindy and Paul Wackerbarth</b> who were the lead volunteers. &nbsp;They volunteered both their travel expenses and their time to join us in South Haven and teach us something that they are passionate about --- the care of monarchs and their love of this amazing planet we call home. &nbsp;Thank you Brian, Erik, Cindy and Paul! &nbsp;We are richer for this wonderful experience!<br /><br /><b><i>"When one tugs at a single thing in nature . . . he finds it attached to the rest of the world." &nbsp;</i></b>--John Muir <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /></div>lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6311833701181592677.post-13725240679432211122016-06-20T11:44:00.003-07:002016-06-20T19:59:52.350-07:00Reconnecting with Nature in a Digital World<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lyBhajeOo/V2gzz7mkgxI/AAAAAAAAA3k/gKY1IhVbES4MfbM5raLXpmJ-C4QYwSNwACLcB/s1600/Erik%2Bpromo%2Bshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1lyBhajeOo/V2gzz7mkgxI/AAAAAAAAA3k/gKY1IhVbES4MfbM5raLXpmJ-C4QYwSNwACLcB/s400/Erik%2Bpromo%2Bshot.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erik Mollenhauer</td></tr></tbody></table><br />On Tuesday, June 28th, at 7:30 P.M., Erik Mollenhauer will be presenting a thought-provoking lecture at Lake Michigan College in South Haven, Michigan. &nbsp;He is both a scientist and a storyteller. &nbsp;He will bring his knowledge of science and his love of storytelling together in this powerful lecture, sure to inspire. &nbsp;Erik is a nationally recognized teacher and has done presentations and led tours around the world on monarch butterflies, birds, trees and other wonders in nature. &nbsp;This presentation will focus on the challenges we face in a world of technological distractions and environmental crises. &nbsp;There is an admission fee of $10 which includes a pre-presentation reception with refreshments starting at 6:45. &nbsp;I hope you can join us! lhb trailhttps://plus.google.com/110286363645861969117noreply@blogger.com2